Starmer secures UK-EU deal after late-night fishing quota clash

[EUROPE] For weeks, Keir Starmer had remained tight-lipped about the details of his negotiations with the EU, echoing Brussels’ stance that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

However, just days before Monday’s summit, the UK prime minister appeared to make a significant concession regarding a youth mobility scheme. In an interview with The Times, Starmer clarified: “Youth mobility is not freedom of movement,” signaling a potential compromise.

The youth mobility issue had been a contentious topic for months, with EU nations like France and Germany advocating for greater movement of students and young professionals. British officials, on the other hand, were hesitant to revisit the issue of freedom of movement, a non-negotiable point for many Brexit supporters. Starmer’s carefully crafted statement aimed to reassure the British public while leaving room for negotiation, a strategy that would prove crucial in the final stages of talks.

Sources close to the discussions indicated that French negotiators seized this opening to push harder on fishing rights, demanding indefinite quotas rather than the four-year period British officials had thought had been agreed. The talks extended until around 2 a.m. on Monday, when the prime minister eventually signed off on a deal that included 12-year quotas instead.

“There was a last-minute wrangle over fish that went right up to the wire on Sunday night,” said one UK government source. A European official added, “The UK’s final offer had been for four years, but even by Sunday night we hadn’t reached a resolution.”

Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, remarked: “The EU used the fact that we were the ones asking for a deal to leverage long-standing demands. The French will be delighted—there’s no doubt that we had to make a concession.”

It was a significant last-minute compromise by Starmer, but one that allowed him to confidently announce a few hours later: “Britain is back on the world stage.”

Despite Starmer’s efforts to reset Britain’s international relations, the final 48 hours of his first major negotiation with Brussels mirrored the chaotic conclusions of previous administrations—marked by frantic phone calls and late-night compromises.

The echoes of past Brexit negotiations were clear. In 2019, Boris Johnson’s team faced similar eleventh-hour disputes over fishing rights, and Theresa May’s tenure was defined by last-minute scrambles with Brussels. Starmer’s team had hoped to avoid such drama, but the complexities of aligning the interests of 27 EU nations with Britain’s demands made friction inevitable. One senior diplomat noted, however, that the key difference was Starmer’s preference for “quiet persistence” over public brinkmanship.

In the end, both sides agreed that the difficulties of the negotiations were worth it. The deal brought clarity to businesses on both sides of the Channel and reaffirmed the UK’s role as a trusted partner outside the EU.

From the outset, Starmer aimed to show that EU negotiations could be conducted differently—more discreetly and without the loud, confrontational style he refers to as “megaphone diplomacy.”

This approach, however, attracted criticism from some. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, accused the prime minister on Monday of conducting “secret negotiations away from parliament, the media, and the public.”

British officials, however, defended the secrecy, arguing that it was essential to secure a complex deal where even the smallest detail could have derailed the process—something that almost happened at the last minute.

Behind closed doors, UK negotiators relied heavily on established relationships with their EU counterparts, many of whom had worked together during the Brexit negotiations. This familiarity helped ease tensions, especially when technical issues threatened to unravel talks. “There’s a mutual respect now that didn’t exist in 2016,” one UK official commented. “We’re no longer estranged partners; we’re neighbours who’ve learned how to disagree without causing an explosion.”

While Starmer’s public stance was conciliatory, those involved in the talks suggest the UK pushed hard for key concessions from the EU.

“Britain came to these talks with 50 different demands,” said one European source. “This deal benefits everyone, but it would be wrong to say that the UK didn’t get a lot of what it wanted.”

The detailed negotiations were spearheaded by Nick Thomas-Symonds, Cabinet Office minister and a close ally of Starmer, whose office is linked to Downing Street by a corridor at Whitehall.

Other cabinet ministers also played prominent roles in various aspects of the deal, including Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey, who led efforts on defence and security agreements.

Healey noted, “Back in July, the UK wasn’t leading the coalition of the willing [on Ukraine]. We didn’t have the Trinity House agreement [between Britain and Germany], nor the prospect of an EU-UK defence pact. All of that is part of strengthening British security.”

The toughest issues to resolve involved the future of a youth mobility scheme and the duration of both the agricultural trade pact and the fishing agreement.

The UK had initially sought a one-year agreement on fishing and an indefinite agricultural deal. Officials hoped that offering a youth mobility scheme—something highly desired by many EU capitals—could help secure these terms.

However, when Starmer appeared willing to compromise on mobility, the French seized the opportunity to demand that if the agricultural trade agreement were to be indefinite, the fishing quotas should also be extended. If one were to be time-limited, both should be.

As the two sides reached an impasse, EU ambassadors met three times within five days to prevent a diplomatic breakdown. By Sunday afternoon, the text still wasn’t finalized.

After a long and tense day of negotiations, officials worked through the night to resolve the remaining disputes. In the Cabinet Office, Thomas-Symonds and his team opted for a Nando’s takeaway while making numerous calls to European capitals and Downing Street.

The late-night phone calls were a source of irritation for some in Brussels, who felt Britain was attempting to “divide and conquer” European capitals, a tactic they had often accused Boris Johnson of using.

Adding to the frustration was a Downing Street press release issued on Saturday, which bluntly stated: “This week, the prime minister will strike yet another deal that will deliver in the national interest of this country.”

As negotiations continued, European leaders began arriving in London on Sunday evening. Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, landed at around 7:30 p.m., with Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, following two hours later.

At 10:30 p.m., the UK presented its final proposals, including the critical concession on fishing quotas. Even then, talks continued for another four hours, with officials haggling over even the smallest details.

Despite the tension, by Monday lunchtime, all appeared calm as Starmer and his cabinet colleagues presented the deal at a relaxed press conference in central London.

Initially seated separately, the delegations switched places at the suggestion of Maroš Šefčovič, the EU trade commissioner, so that they could sit among each other. “That’s what this deal is all about,” Starmer told reporters. “Building relationships with the partners we choose and closing deals in the national interest.”

Later, on BBC Radio 4, Kallas offered a slightly different perspective: “Any deal means making compromises on both sides. If neither side is entirely satisfied, it means it’s a good deal.”