Keir Starmer’s Post-Brexit ‘Reset’ With the EU Has Stalled, Warns Report

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Keir Starmer’s much-vaunted post-Brexit “reset” with the European Union has so far resulted in few concrete improvements to the UK’s relations with its EU partners, according to a new parliamentary report.

The report, Unfinished Business, by the House of Lords European Affairs Committee, welcomes the first UK EU summit last May, the defence agreement with the EU and separate deals with France and Germany, as steps in the right direction.

But detailed examination of the promises made at the summit have so far seen little or no progress in implementing these changes.

At the time Sir Keir Starmer said the new deal would mean “more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union. It will be good for our jobs, good for our bills and good for our borders.” 

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Crossbench peer, Lord Ricketts, chair of the Lords European Affairs Committee, said:   “The Government has made a strong start in resetting the UK’s relationship with the EU. But there is still much to be done to turn aspirations into workable agreements of benefit to Britain’s security and economic growth.     

“The May 2025 UK-EU summit was the first major milestone setting out an ambitious direction of travel. We welcome the Security and Defence Partnership at a time of growing threats to European security. It will now be crucial that the negotiations under way on UK participation in the EU’s defence investment programme (SAFE) provide clear strategic benefits for the UK’s defence industry.      

“The May summit also set the objective of a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, to reduce checks on trade in animal and plant products, and a link between the UK and EU Emissions Trading Schemes. But there is a lack of clarity on how these schemes will work, when they will be achieved and the arrangements for parliamentary scrutiny of their impact on the UK economy.”

Some areas such as moves to increase co-operation in law enforcement between the UK and the EU, proposals to make it easier for musicians and artists to tour the EU, and a new agreement to recognise mutual professional qualifications, appear to have stalled altogether.

Peers who met the European Commission and Parliament in Brussels could not confirm whether blockages on these measures were coming from the EU or the UK due to teh sparse information made available by ministers about what is happening.

Negotiations are continuing on a new limited Youth Experience programme, encouraging young people from both the UK and the EU to live, work and study in each other’s countries, and on bringing the UK back into the Erasmus programme, which would allow UK students to study in EU universities. This stopped after Brexit but little is known about the progress.

Peers are critical of the failure of the Government to enable Parliamentary scrutiny of progress in negotiations. They say the Government should have produced a White Paper outlining the objectives at the time of the summit as “this would have facilitated our task of holding the Government to account.”

They were also highly critical of the one concrete change already agreed with the EU following the summit – the 12 year fishery agreement coming into force in July next year.

Representatives of the Scottish industry who gave evidence to the committee described it as a deal that benefitted the EU to fish in British waters. Peers criticised the ministry’s explanatory memorandum, on the deal saying it was “sparse” and did not explain why it was rushed through or the legal approach which allowed annual agreement for access to British waters to be set aside. The Government has also avoided telling Parliament what impact it would have on the fishing industry.