UK politics live: EU demands for fishing rights ‘hold up’ Starmer’s post-Brexit reset negotiations

EU demands for greater access to British fisheries were the main outstanding issue as Sir Keir Starmer’s post-Brexit reset negotiations went down to the wire on Sunday night, it was reported.

According to The Times, UK negotiators were surprised by an EU bid to tie any deal on easing checks on UK food exports to an agreement on fishing rights, with Brussels reported to be taking a hard line on the issue.

Nigel Farage has claimed he would tear up any deal reached by Sir Keir Starmer with the EU tomorrow if he enters Downing Street at the next election.

Labelling the prime minister’s reset deal – details of which are still being agreed – an “abject surrender”, the Reform UK leader claimed it would put the UK on the “slippery slope to rejoin”.

“The Prime Minister thinks he’ll get away with it but he perhaps underestimates how strong Brexit feeling still is in the Red Wall,” Mr Farage told The Telegraph. “The whole thing is an abject surrender from Starmer and politically, something he will come to regret.”

Labour MPs have warned Sir Keir Starmer that his sought-after Brexit reset deal risks a backlash from voters.

Expressing concerns over a youth mobility scheme, Jo White, head of the Red Wall group of MPs, told The Telegraph: “We tighten immigration with one hand and potentially loosen the strings with the other.

“Whilst the scheme already operates with Australia, Canada and New Zealand, I don’t see young people from areas like mine benefiting from it unless there are very clear parameters.”

The Bassetlaw MP added: “If this just becomes a way of overseas kids filling the low paid job vacancies in London rather than looking to see how young people from areas like mine could be opened up to opportunities and experiences that they would never have otherwise dreamed of then I would really question the value of it.”

A £25bn annual boost to British exports is at stake for Sir Keir Starmer as he tries to secure a Brexit reset deal at a crucial summit on Monday, analysis shared with The Independent reveals.

Removing trade barriers on goods, including food and drink and electrical items, could result in a 2.2 per cent uplift in gross domestic product in the long run, boosting the economic growth the prime minister so desperately wants to deliver, financial analysts Frontier Economics found.

And a separate assessment by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) warns that a failure to land a deal for easier trading could lead to a 2.7 per cent drop in exports by 2027, costing the UK economy almost £30bn.

Alicja Hagopian and David Maddox report:

The UK looks increasingly likely to agree to a post-Brexit youth mobility scheme with the European Union at a major UK-EU summit on Monday.

Such an agreement would be a major step towards resetting Boris Johnson’s damaging Brexit deal, and has been pushed by European officials for months.

The move, which is being demanded by European countries and commissioners in Brussels, would help to create much closer ties with the bloc and begin to repair the shattered relationship left by the previous Tory government.

Here, The Independent looks at how such a scheme would work in practice, who would be eligible to take part and whether or not there is support for it in Britain:

Sir Keir Starmer’s post-Brexit reset is still being negotiated with just hours before the prime minister is to host Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa in London.

With both sides yet to reach agreement, British and European negotiators will work overnight to hash out a deal before the prime minister appears at a press conference alongside the European Commission and European Council presidents on Monday.

Downing Street sources said there are “outstanding issues on both sides”.

“Negotiations are going down to the wire and a deal is not yet done… conversations will continue overnight,” an official said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will welcome European Union leaders to London on Monday to help reset relations with the bloc.

Both sides will be aiming to secure progress in some specific areas, including defence and security.

Britain’s Labour government wants to pursue a defence and security pact that previous Conservative governments opted not to seek when Brexit was first negotiated.

Both sides agree it is imperative for Europe to work more closely together on defence, given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calls by US President Donald Trump for NATO’s European members to shoulder more of the burden of the alliance.

Britain could try to negotiate access for UK companies to joint defence projects under Security Action For Europe – an EU loan scheme worth 150 billion euros ($168 billion) – and how much it will have to pay for that access. This could also facilitate greater foreign policy co-ordination.

British tourists arriving in Europe could be able to use EU passport gates once again under Sir Keir Starmer’s post-Brexit reset deal.

Sir Keir’s EU minister said the government was pushing for measures to speed up the process in interviews on Sunday morning, after reports the UK was on the verge of striking a deal.

Read more from our political correspondent Archie Mitchell here:

The UK Government should reconsider allowing a second independence referendum if there is an “overwhelming desire” for it in Scotland, Michael Gove has said.

The Tory grandee was part of successive governments which turned down formal requests for another vote in recent years.

But speaking to the BBC, he said an increase in support would warrant a rethink in Westminster.

“I don’t believe that it’s necessary at the moment,” he said of another vote on separation.

“I think if there’s an overwhelming desire on the part of the Scottish people for one, then we’d have to review the situation.”