Public opinion on the UK-EU Post-Brexit Defense and Trade Agreement is mixed, displaying cautious optimism tempered by skepticism. The agreement is viewed as a constructive step towards mending UK-EU relations, likely to stabilize trade and defense cooperation after Brexit's disruptions. However, concerns persist over compromises on fishing rights and regulatory sovereignty. While some express frustration over perceived inefficacies and the potential for political manipulation, others see it as a necessary and positive move forward.

United Kingdom

European Union

Rightly so. We have the EU for a reason, to be stronger together. It should benefit members above outside countries first and foremost.

Hairy-cheeky-monkey

I don't remember the UK having an objection to this.

However the UK had other conditions attached such as fishing rights when other 3rd party nations didn't.

Semaj3000

Requiring a shared defense infrastructure spend with minimum requirements and penalties if not met as a pre-req for trade.

Hilariously ironic

Healthy_Razzmatazz38

I think our world-class defence capabilities will buy our ticket. 

Non story to try to drive division between the UK and the EU again.

michaelcrombobulus

Did Japan and South Korea have to pay into the fund to get access with their defence industries?

  
If they did then fair enough. If not then this is a a bit odd, especially when the UK is already a direct contributor to European defence,

Lazyjim77

My understanding is that EU wants the EEA and Norway in this without any payment. That makes sense in many ways, while the EEA is outside the EU, it is to a large extent a satelite orbit outside the union.

DarrensDodgyDenim

I’ve lived most of my life in the UK as a EU citizen voted remain, and look how  events have unraveled we are now obliged to to pay to join a fund of EU defense companies that otherwise would have got gratis . 
If the remaining EU countries spend their NATO 2.5% I’m  sure that will be a good starting point

LostInteraction6785

I think the EU should work on how they are going to fund their defence first, as nobody group wants to sanction the loans, and some countries don’t want their money added to the pot.

Mba1956

In terms of defence we are not outside the EU. When it comes to guarding EU shores, securing food supplies by sea, winning the next battle of the Atlantic and countering the Northen Fleet who can saturate EU with ballistic and cruise missiles, EU doesn't have a hope in he'll without the Royal Navy.

olderlifter99

Bit of a non-story. Either Europe wants access to our military tech or they don't. If the French and Germans want to place barriers in the way to protect their own markets (and thus generate money) then that's awesome.....but at the same time it would beg the question as to whether security is their first and foremost priority or whether it's got more to do with seizing an opportunity to make money....which would then make them no better than the US. 

Either way, if the US continues to diverge away from Europe, Europe will absolutely be wanting British participation in their defence and industry takes time to ramp up and time to design and produce equipment. The more people you involve in that, the better it will be. The UK is in Europe whether it's in the EU or not so Europe's problems are always going to be our problems too when it comes to security; unlike the US which is now at pains to point out the distance between it and the continent. 

But hey guys, you do you

ElWiggoDC

You are just making it up as you go along. Not even going to continue

Full-Discussion3745

Russias northern fleet is their core fleet and very very different to the Black sea fleet. If France is ready to risk negotiating away half of Europe's SSN/ SSBN fleet cool. Just good luck.

Makes you wonder why we invest so much in resources and hardware for defence of Europes eastern flank.

might as well pack up and go and leave it to the French if Europe wants to dick around with its defence. All this does is cause unnecessary bad feelings when we should be united against Russian aggression and neo imperialism in Europe

Apprehensive_Home963

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Fishing

- A new deal will keep the current status quo giving EU boats continued access to UK waters until 2038

- The 2020 Brexit deal, which saw the UK regain 25% EU fishing quotas, was due to run out next year

- The UK will continue to agree yearly quotas with the EU and Norway and issue licences to control who fishes in its waters

- Later, the government is due to unveil a £360m "fishing and coastal growth fund" to invest in coastal communities

Farming

- In return for extending current fishing rules, the UK has secured a deal to reduce checks on food exports to the EU

- Officials will drop some routine border checks on animal and plant shipments to and from the EU

- The new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement means the UK can sell raw burgers and sausages back into the EU for the first time since Brexit

Security

- A formal UK-EU defence and security pact has been established

- Both sides have been pushing for closer cooperation and information-sharing since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump re-entered the White House

- The government says the agreement "paves the way" for UK-based arms firms to access the Security Action for Europe (Safe) - a £150bn EU fund providing loans for defence projects

Full details: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdy3r6q9mgo

epsilona01

I would like to thank Trump for being such a monumental f-up that its pushing the rest of the world to sort their stuff out.

Coffmad1

So Starmer has now secured 3 trade deals in the last couple of months.

Waiting for someone to say he's basically Hitler and this is terrible and we should definitely not vote for him (See vote reform) in the future.

Emperors-Peace

The most successful trade news, by far, since brexit, is just undoing some of brexit.

What a farce this last decade has been

LuxFaeWilds

&gt; Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the deal "very concerning" and said 12 years EU access for fishing is three times longer than the government wanted.

*than our party wanted 

&gt; "And with no details on any cap or time limits on youth mobility, fears of free movement returning will only increase."

Oh no, the ability to live &amp; work in Europe is very scary. What will our businesses do if European businesses offer to pay decent salaries? Somebody please think of the shareholders.

anangrywizard

at the very least, it's some sort of progress in the right direction.

AdventurousTart1643

I didn't vote for Kier Starmer but I do think he and this government have for the most part done an excellent job so far. If they keep this level of competence up then I will certainly be voting Labour for the first time in the next election. 

Walexei

JunketMiserable6177

How is this going to affect the day to day for the British people? Do many members states actually want our raw burgers and sausages? Or do they just want our fish.

ranchitomorado

Very easy to spot the Reform supporters in the comments. Seriously though, how long before Farage is calling this the worst thing ever?

Klausvendetta

This link has been shared 3 times.

First Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1kq6bs6) on 2025-05-19. Last Seen [Here](https://redd.it/1kq7gyt) on 2025-05-19

---

**Scope:** Reddit | **Check Title:** False | **Max Age:** None | **Searched Links:** 0 | **Search Time:** 0.00483s

RepostSleuthBot

We'll bang go the Puffins &amp; other seabirds that rely on Sandeels to live. 
 The seas will be dredged by the Danes for Sandeels so they can make fucking cat food.

E5evo

Purpleresidents

So a 12 year re-entry to the EU market without any of the control of the rules?

StevenXSG

Another crappy trade deal from the sell out!

PayitForword

FollowingExtension90

The UK was so snobby and said we don't need the EU, can trade with our American partners because historically they are our friends and now this 

Satyriasis457

Snapshot of _UK and EU to finalise plans for defence pact_ :

An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&amp;url=https://www.ft.com/content/92734ac6-5ada-4784-b694-44043d85244e)  or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&amp;url=https://www.ft.com/content/92734ac6-5ada-4784-b694-44043d85244e)         


*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*

&gt; Sir Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen will on Thursday finalise plans for a new UK/EU defence pact and an agreement on the sensitive area of fishing rights, paving the way for negotiations on a broader economic deal. The British prime minister and European Commission president are expected to announce a defence and security pact and a rollover of current fishing arrangements at a summit on May 19. Multiple officials briefed on the discussions said the defence deal would build trust and open the door for sensitive talks on issues including a new youth mobility scheme, energy co-operation and a removal of barriers to trade in food and agricultural products. British officials said Starmer expected to hold talks lasting an hour with Von der Leyen in London on Thursday on the margins of an international energy security summit. “They have a strong personal relationship,” said one.

&gt; While a UK/EU defence pact is seen as a big prize in its own right by both sides given Russian aggression in Ukraine, the deal is expected to be accompanied on May 19 by a document setting out co-operation in other areas. “The plan is to publish a document setting out a common way forward,” said one EU diplomat briefed on summit preparations. A British official added: “May 19 will be the starting point.” The awkward issue of fishing is expected to be solved by agreeing a continuation of current fishing quotas in UK waters for at least two years, giving EU boats the certainty demanded by France and other coastal states, according to three people familiar with the matter. In return, UK defence companies would qualify for access to a possible €150bn in EU-backed loans to fund weapons purchases under the bloc’s Security Action For Europe (SAFE) project.

&gt; Brussels has legally nonbinding security deals with six other countries, including Norway, Albania, South Korea and Japan, but UK and EU negotiators have been discussing a potentially deeper bilateral partnership. The SAFE scheme will allow EU members to issue bonds backed by the EU budget, lowering the cost, outside Brussels-mandated fiscal limits. The scheme is designed to fund purchases of weapons from manufacturers in EU member states and countries who have a security pact with the EU. “European defence policy is not conceivable without the UK,” said a senior EU diplomat. “That’s why the UK needs to be closely involved on SAFE — just like Norway.” Several member states have put pressure on France to agree to the deal, but Paris insisted on preserving access to UK fish stocks at the same level after June 2026, when a deal done at the time of Brexit expires. Some member states are still pushing for at least a five-year deal on fish.

&gt; The two sides are expected to deepen co-operation on energy, such as improving electricity trading between the UK and EU, likely for a longer term to reflect the time it takes to build infrastructure such as electricity interconnectors. The summit declaration will also set out a road map for future talks on relinking the two sides’ carbon emissions trading systems. “There will be a common understanding that could include a veterinary deal, ETS and youth mobility,” an EU diplomat said.  “It’s still a moving target, but the mood music is certainly positive. There is credible hope there could be a landing zone by May 19.” One Downing Street official said: “There’s a real desire on both sides.” Another senior UK official put the chance of a deal at “75/25 “. An EU diplomat said that while the fight over fishing rights had been delinked from plans for a security pact, there remained “intense negotiations” over other elements of the deal. That would comprise security, mobility and migration, relinking energy markets and a ‘veterinary agreement’ to remove border checks on animal and plant products being traded across the Channel.

&gt; Significant gaps remain to be resolved on the question of a youth mobility and the rights of artists to tour the EU, a key UK demand. But EU officials said that London had accepted the principle of “dynamic alignment”, where the UK would automatically accept EU rules and standards and the European Court of Justice as the final arbiter on questions of EU law. The sensitive question of how disputes would be resolved, and how the ECJ’s jurisdiction would operate in practice, is still to be negotiated. “The more immediate question is on how the UK will operationalise the application of dynamic alignment and the mechanisms that will allow it to transpose EU rules into UK law,” one added.

ldn6

Defence agreement for a two year extension on the current fishing agreement isn't awful.


I guess Macron is happy because it gets him to the end of his term. Then he can stop caring.

Far-Requirement1125

All of that reads excellently.

The linking up of fishing was absurd but this seems like quite a reasonable arrangement with future changes left open (in 2028). It also sounds like the government is accepting the reality that we need to be aligned with Europe and there are necessary steps to make that work. Dynamic alignment was always inevitable, it's just a shame we're not in a position to be rule makers for the moment.

Velociraptor_1906

This is only a good thing, sanity will prevail in terms of our relationship with the EU sooner or later.

cooky561

yes closer ties with EU is very good, I just hope EU will get rid of Hungary and Slovakia

Lanky-Swordfish-8610

France will do whatever they can to stop the UK getting any of the EU-backed loan money. They know we beat them in this area of expertise, so they'll demand X, then Y, then Z.

Nymzeexo

The UK fishing areas will be overfished and ruined even more. No care about the environment, but more care about war. An absolute sellout.

Apprehensive-Bid-740

What does the yourh mobility part of this mean?

louisbo12

Defence? We need to be going on the offensive. Russia needs to be stopped now. They have made it clear they no intention of stopping in their criminal war with Ukraine and expansionism.
Defence is all well and good and we do need to make a new pact with allies we can trust, but it should be taking Ukraine into account.

CorswainsDeciple

So what's a win win for the EU.
Starmer is trying as hard as Tories to get reform elected.

Inside_Performance32

So €150bn in access to military contracts DOES beat £1bn in fishing rights. Colour me surprised , every time is said this was a simple equation people on this sub explained in great detail why that was wrong.

munkijunk

Things are looking better for now, but PM Farage is on the horizon.

m---------4

[deleted]

So we're giving some shitty little African country £50bn to use our own military base and the EU our fish to defend them from Russia, Labour party sure know the art of the deal. Spineless cowards.

Hackary

Many of us knew they would just create a new agreement that just happened to be signed at the same time.

However if it is just an extension of current quotas, that is fine. However I doubt it is..

EquivalentKick255

dontstealmydinner

For those unable to read the article due to a paywall:

LONDON/BRUSSELS, May 19 (Reuters) - Britain agreed the most significant reset of defence and trade ties with the European Union since Brexit on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump's upending of the global order forced the two sides to move on from their acrimonious divorce.

Nearly nine years after it voted to leave the bloc, Britain, a defence heavyweight, will take part in joint procurement projects. The sides also agreed to make it easier for UK food and visitors to reach the EU, and signed a contentious new fishing deal.

Trump's tariffs, alongside warnings that Europe should do more to protect itself, forced governments around the world to rethink trade, defence and security ties, bringing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer closer to France's Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders.

Starmer, who backed remaining in the EU in the Brexit referendum, also bet that offering tangible benefits to Britons such as the use of faster e-gates at EU airports will drown out the cries of "betrayal" from Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.

The government said the reset with its biggest trading partner would reduce red tape for food and agricultural producers, making food cheaper, improve energy security and add nearly 9 billion pounds ($12.1 billion) to the economy by 2040.

It is the third deal Britain has struck this month, after agreements with India and the U.S., and while it is unlikely to lead to a meaningful economic boost immediately it could lift corporate sentiment, drawing much-needed investment.

"It's time to look forward," Starmer said in a statement. "To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people.

"We're ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people’s lives here at home."

At the heart of the reset is a defence and security pact that will let Britain be part of any joint procurement and pave the way for British companies including BAE (BAES.L), opens new tab, Rolls-Royce (RR.L), opens new tab and Babcock (BAB.L), opens new tab to take part in a 150 billion euro ($167 billion) programme to rearm Europe.

On fishing, British and EU vessels will have access to each other's waters for 12 years - removing one of the UK's strongest hands in any future talks - in return for a permanent reduction in paperwork and border checks that had prevented small food producers from exporting to Europe.

In return, Britain has agreed to the outline of a limited youth mobility scheme, with the details to be hammered out in future, and it is discussing participation in the Erasmus+ student exchange programme.

The agreement was denounced by Farage and the opposition Conservative Party, which was in power when Britain left the bloc and spent years negotiating the original divorce deal.

twotwo_twentytwo

TailungFu

Tories already slandering the deal as surrendering British fishing, when all it does is maintain the status quo the tories themselves negotiated, is peak 2020s politics

Mav_Learns_CS

Can some reasonable Brits explain what arguments are there for wanting exceptions to the eu standards (euro, Schengen etc) in a theoretical rejoin? I am genuinely curious. Thx

No-Sample-5262

StipaCaproniEnjoyer

Man, just ditch the fucking Pound already and come back.

sakatan

The sooner we ban Facebook, X, etc. The sooner we can secure our democracies.

Walovingi

Brexit was the dumbest, most manipulated mistake in world politics ever.

StrangerConscious637

BobbyDig8L

I see a lot of people shitting on his "little deals" but the fact is in the space of a few weeks he's got India, US and now Europe all moving towards something. Things are actually getting done. 


I might not agree with everything he's doing but at least he's actually doing something. I think this is why the UK has struggled for a few years, no leader could do anything without upsetting one wing of their party so became paralysed by trying to appease everyone.

thatlad

Will never be as good as the deal we had before, but it's better than nothing, I suppose.

Dajo05

drjjoyner

UK needs to come back to the EU. We all want this. Let's just start with a clean sheet. And learn a lesson from what happened and why it happened.

Potential-Delay-4487

PloppyTheSpaceship

It just shows how long Russia has been manipulating our views behind the scenes. Granted our weak politicians didn't help much either.

IceWallow97

Serious question. What happened to the brexiters? Do they still have the same convictions? Do the feel responsable of the economic and social impact of brexit? Or do they have a scapegoat?

dlo009

I just want to be able to order things from the UK without having to pay import tax an custom-fees again.  
Smaller companies in the UK must have lost an insane amount of businesses when free trade disappeared.

Its_me_Freddy

Hope this actually brings some stability, been tired of the constant back and forth.

airin1011

I eagerly await the Brexiteers saying how this is a betrayal of Brexit. Before spouting on about the will of the people after they are asked for the 19337283636241st time what Brexit actually is.

PurahsHero

We should have just announced Brexit and not changed anything - the gullible pricks would have been happy and be able to gloat, whilst everyone else could carry on as normal.

byjimini

Feels like a turning point. 
If Starmer pulls this off, it could really smooth things out with the EU. 
About time someone tried to fix the mess.

Efficient_Ad2242

Here's a breakdown of the agreements so far, or lack thereof,

\-So the 'breakthrough' is to prolong EU fishing rights (by 12 years) which will no doubt anger Brexit supporters.

\-Additionally there is an agreement that UK citizens can use the e-passport gates.

\-Ongoing discussions on the youth mobility scheme seem stuck

\-There seems some substance to the defense partnership with UK defense firms effectively being treated as european companies in terms of priority. Given the rearmanant of europe this is meaningful (though economically not massive)

\-the UK will align certain food safety and animal welfare standards with the EU to facilitate trade, though this has sparked debates over regulatory sovereignty. Again this will anger Brexiters, though is just a great example that it would get a say on these standards thus the UK would have had more sovereignty by being a member.

ReasonRiffs

Illustrious-Syrup509

Nervous-Discount9116

Oh, wonderful. Feels like the UK finally got some competent representation.

Secure_Plum7118

If this is the UK getting all the good without paying into the EU, the other Member States will never agree to it

SexyWhale

Brexit is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot to spite your nose. Trump’s 2025 tariff is the same dance as brexit.

thortilla27

That seemed to go pretty easy. I wonder what Deform are going to say about this?

schtickshift

Do we know the details of the agreement? I'm tired of fighting through articles with ads and just want to know the facts

FutilePenguins

Good,  Brexiteers can go fuck themselves. 

Electronic-Truck-500

This website is a cancer on mobile. Tried to RTFA but ads kept moving the text around. Guess I don’t need to know.

Objective_Piece_8401

Including sausages! Wow! Glad they mentioned those sausages, cause I was wondering about sausages!

doingthisonthetoilet

Deathglass

Ive just heard my parents who voted leave "Our youth dont get anything out of this deal! Its all foreigners"

I think we might have had something that benefited the uk in the past but I cant quite remember it and neither can they apparently.

Tianxiac

InevitableKick7376

The UK and EU have reached a new defense and trade agreement, resetting post-Brexit relations and addressing issues like defense collaboration, trade, and migration.

UK-EU Post-Brexit Defense and Trade Agreement

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want