LONDON — Britain and the European Union hailed a new chapter in their relationship Monday after sealing fresh agreements on defense cooperation and easing trade flows at their first formal summit since Brexit.
Five years after the U.K. left the EU, ties were growing closer again as Prime Minister Keir Starmer met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other senior EU officials in London for talks.
The deals will slash red tape, grow the British economy and reset relations with the 27-nation trade bloc, Starmer said, while von der Leyen called the talks a “historic moment” that benefits both sides.
“Britain is back on the world stage,” Starmer told reporters. “This deal is a win-win.”
He hailed Monday’s agreements — the third package of trade deals struck by his government in as many weeks following accords with the U.S. and India — as “good for jobs, good for bills and good for our borders.”
But Britain’s opposition parties slammed the deals as backtracking on Brexit and “surrendering” anew to the EU. “We’re becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again,” Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said.
Cutting red tape on food trade
Officials said they will remove some routine border checks on animal and plant products and align with EU regulations, which will reduce costs on food imports and exports and make it easier for goods to flow freely across borders.
Businesses have complained about trucks waiting for hours at borders with fresh food that cannot be exported to the EU because of laborious post-Brexit certifications.
The changes will mean the U.K. can sell products like raw British burgers, sausages and seafood to the EU again, officials said. The benefits will apply also to movements between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, where post-Brexit customs checks have been a thorny issue for years.
While the EU is the U.K.’s largest trading partner, the government said the U.K. has been hit with a 21% drop in exports since Brexit because of more onerous paperwork and other non-tariff barriers.
