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Leaders of Britain’s fishing industry have urged Sir Keir Starmer to “hold his nerve” as negotiations with Brussels over a new UK-EU pact went down to the wire ahead of a crucial summit on Monday.
“I do hope the government holds its nerve,” said Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations. He told the Financial Times that Starmer should resist pressure from the EU to lock in current access arrangements to British waters.
Cohen said EU fishermen take around £500mn of fish each year from UK waters under a post-Brexit deal that comes up for renewal in 2026.
The British prime minister held talks with European leaders in the margins of a separate summit in Albania on Friday, as both sides look to resolve disputes on fish, an agrifood trade deal and the outline of a youth mobility scheme.
Starmer said he was “confident” that the summit at Lancaster House in London on Monday would mark a fresh chapter in UK-EU relations after the traumas of Brexit, with both sides set to agree a security and defence partnership.
While there is no doubt in London or Brussels that a reset deal will eventually be agreed, talks are expected to take place on Sunday to settle the remaining details.
Already Starmer is being accused by the Conservatives of being “a supplicant” for seeking a deal that would require the UK to follow some rules set in Brussels and continue to allow EU fishermen access to its waters.
Starmer told a meeting of the European Political Community in Tirana the UK-EU deal would be “an important moment” and a sign of Britain working more closely with its neighbours on issues like security, migration and trade.
“These are shared challenges and only shared solutions will solve them,” Starmer told the meeting, which convened leaders of more than 40 nations and organisations from across Europe.
Starmer held talks with Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president and also met Emmanuel Macron, French president, along with other EU leaders.
Both sides recognise that haggling over fish is “irrational”, according to one EU official, when war is raging on the European continent. However, the politically-sensitive issue must be resolved ahead of Monday’s meeting to allow progress on other areas.
EU negotiators have argued that unless Britain agrees to a long-term fisheries deal, they will not cede to London on an agrifood veterinary deal, which would smooth trade in foodstuffs, including fish and shellfish, as well as animals.
They argue that it would benefit UK fishermen who could send their catch, such as lobsters and scallops, more quickly to restaurants in France and Spain that pay higher prices.
Cohen said that by linking a veterinary deal to a long-term fish agreement, the EU was hoping to make the fisheries arrangement “permanent” because no British government would want to give up better trading arrangements for foodstuffs.
The UK has argued that a time-limited veterinary deal would not create the certainty needed to justify the necessary legislation and investment.
Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader, said this week she would hammer Starmer over any concessions on fish. “A lot of the Labour lefties think it’s a big joke and they laugh at people from fishing communities,” she told GB News.
The EU meanwhile wants the UK to signal in Monday’s summit communiqué that it is willing to look at an ambitious youth mobility deal, including for students.
However, the details of such an agreement would only be hammered out at a later date. British officials privately say that issue could be fudged to some extent in the final summit text.
Member state ambassadors will hold a rare Sunday meeting in Brussels to endorse or reject the communiqué.
