{"id":136042,"date":"2025-05-27T13:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/136042\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T13:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:38:08","slug":"betrayal-or-win-win-britains-eu-deal-reopens-old-wounds-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/136042\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Betrayal\u2019 or \u2018win-win\u2019?: Britain\u2019s EU deal reopens old wounds | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"

London, United Kingdom \u2014<\/strong> British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has proudly described a new deal with the European Union spanning defence, security, and trade as a \u201cwin-win\u201d pact that puts the nation \u201cback on the world stage\u201d.<\/p>\n

But nine years after Britain narrowly voted in favour of leaving the EU, the deal announced on May 19 has prompted a sigh of relief for some and stinging criticism from others, underscoring just how divisive the legacy of Brexit remains in the country.<\/p>\n

While many sections of British society have welcomed the agreement, Richard Tice, an MP for the anti-immigration party Reform UK, responded to the deal with a single-word post on social media: \u201cBetrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal offers concessions<\/a> on European visas for British citizens, shorter queues at European airports, and possibly cheaper food in the UK. But on the flip side, the UK has agreed to allow European fishing fleets access to British waters for an extra 12 years.<\/p>\n

\"FILEShoppers buy food in a supermarket in London on August 17, 2022. PM Starmer has said he expects food prices to come down as a result of the deal with the EU [File: Frank Augstein\/AP Photo]
\n\u2018Best news in nine years\u2019<\/p>\n

Phil Rusted, who runs a firm called Practical Plants in Suffolk that imports plants from Europe, is among those who are delighted.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy instinct is it is the best news we have got in nine years,\u201d he said. \u201cIt almost gets us back to where were before Brexit. It helps me to take on more staff, to develop my business. The last few years have been very unpredictable; I will be more assured about what my costs are going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business sector, more broadly, has also largely responded positively to the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world where higher US tariffs are threatening to throw globalisation into reverse, trade deals, even if relatively minor, are generally good news,\u201d said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec Bank. \u201cThe obvious gainer is the food sector<\/a>, which will benefit from a reduction in checks at the EU border, which could make a material difference to exporters\u2019 and importers\u2019 costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Federation of Small Businesses, a group that represents small- and medium-sized firms in the UK, described the EU deal as \u201cgenuine progress\u201d, crediting it for \u201cuntangling the rules for small exporters of plant and animal products\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, small businesses have shouldered the burden of unpredictable customs rules and red tape that sap confidence and ambition,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

And popular opinion in the UK appears to be behind the agreement<\/a>. Polling by YouGov shows that 66 percent want to have a closer relationship with the EU, compared with just 14 percent who do not.<\/p>\n

To be sure, experts say the UK has to compromise too. \u201cThe devil in a trade deal is of course always in the detail,\u201d said Paul Dales, chief economist at Capital Economics. In addition to accepting EU access to British waters for fishing, the UK has also agreed to pay an unspecified \u201cappropriate financial contribution\u201d to join the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, Dales pointed out.<\/p>\n

\"FrenchThe new deal between the UK and the EU extends the access European fishing fleets enjoy to British waters by 12 years [File: Rafael Yaghobzadeh\/AP Photo]
\n\u2018Nothing of value in return\u2019<\/p>\n

But the deal has also faced strong pushback.<\/p>\n

The National Federation of Fishermen\u2019s Organisations, in a statement on May 19, said the agreement \u201csurrenders the best prospect that the fishing industry and coastal communities had for growth over the coming decade\u201d.<\/p>\n

Three days later, it issued a more biting statement, saying the deal \u201cdrags UK fishing back into a past we thought had been left behind\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shaw conceded that if the food industry had benefitted from the deal, the fishing sector stood \u201cat the other end of the scale\u201d.<\/p>\n

And it is not just fishers. The deal has also revived a broader debate over whether the UK, in seeking to realign itself with elements of the EU\u2019s rules and regulations, is violating the mandate of Brexit.<\/p>\n

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under whom Britain formally withdrew from the EU in 2020, described the deal as an \u201cappalling sell out\u201d in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Tony Gabana, a web developer from London who was too young to vote in 2016, holds that view.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s a good deal or not, it does seem an attempt to reverse what a lot of people voted for,\u201d Gabana said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t sit right with me. It feels like a step to further concessions, which, again, no one voted for.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we a democracy or not?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London, United Kingdom \u2014 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has proudly described a new deal with the European…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,12633,393,299,4884,3058,12,1144,285,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-136042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-business-and-economy","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-international-trade","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-northern-ireland","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114580075675255840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}