{"id":578403,"date":"2026-05-11T17:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/578403\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:11:08","slug":"eu-preparing-to-offer-key-concession-to-uk-in-new-post-brexit-agricultural-deal-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/578403\/","title":{"rendered":"EU preparing to offer key concession to UK in new post-Brexit agricultural deal | European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels is preparing to offer Keir Starmer<\/a> a key concession in talks over an agricultural deal, giving the beleaguered prime minister an important victory in his efforts to move closer to the EU.<\/p>\n

European officials have conceded that the UK can keep its ban on live animal exports as part of any joint deal on food and agricultural products, according to sources on both sides of the talks, even though the EU has not imposed such a ban.<\/p>\n

The carve-out will be a significant fillip for Starmer\u2019s efforts to negotiate closer EU ties in a series of areas including emissions trading and youth mobility.<\/p>\n

The prime minister listed his prospective EU deal on Monday as one of three examples of his government\u2019s progress, as he fights for his political career<\/a> in the face of growing calls from his own MPs for him to quit.<\/p>\n

One British official said of the agricultural deal: \u201cWe\u2019re confident on this and don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be an issue but of course negotiations are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither the Cabinet Office nor the European Commission, which are leading the negotiations, would comment while talks were still ongoing. But one Brussels source pointed out that, according to a framework agreement<\/a> signed by both parties last May, the UK can be exempted from EU regulations if the UK rules are stricter than the EU\u2019s. European officials say because the ban would only apply to UK farmers, it would not negatively affect farmers in the EU.<\/p>\n

Starmer is hoping to sign an agricultural trade deal as one of three key elements of a new EU agreement to be announced at a summit this summer. He pinned significant political hopes on the deal as he tried to persuade Labour<\/a> MPs to back him after the local elections last week.<\/p>\n

During a speech on Monday billed as a \u201cmake-or-break\u201d moment in his premiership, Starmer said<\/a>: \u201cThe last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe; this Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, negotiations are mainly being held up by a standoff<\/a> over whether European students should pay the same university tuition fees as part of a youth mobility scheme.<\/p>\n

An agricultural deal is expected to be easier to agree, though negotiators say there are important areas where the UK will want to opt out of EU rules.<\/p>\n

One such area is on the export of live animals, including cows, sheep and pigs, for fattening or slaughter. The EU is the world\u2019s largest live farm animal exporter<\/a>, but animal welfare campaigners say the practice causes overcrowding, exhaustion, dehydration and stress.<\/p>\n

Rishi Sunak\u2019s government imposed a ban on such exports<\/a> in 2024, in a move it said was \u201ccapitalising on a post-Brexit freedoms and bolstering the UK\u2019s position as a world leader in animal welfare standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lawyers and animal welfare experts said that without a specific carve-out, the UK would have to drop the ban altogether.<\/p>\n

Catherine Barnard, a professor of European law at the University of Cambridge, said: \u201cThere would need to be an express carve-out in the SPS [sanitary and phytosanitary] agreement. People in the UK care very much about this, so while in the EU the UK tried and failed<\/a> to stop exports in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Bowles, the head of public affairs at the RSPCA, said: \u201cIt is vital \u2013 in the interests of these animals \u2013 that this successful ban is protected. An exemption is vital, and will help protect things like the prohibition of live exports, puppy imports, and bans on cages for farmed animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK has had to give way on other animal welfare rules during the negotiation process. The Guardian revealed last month<\/a> the EU was likely to block ministers from enacting their manifesto commitment of banning the import of foie gras, and similarly will not allow the UK to ban fur imports.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with the Guardian<\/a>, the environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, defended these compromises. \u201cThe prize is big,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can talk about the detail, but the overall prize here is to bring down the barriers at the border.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brussels is preparing to offer Keir Starmer a key concession in talks over an agricultural deal, giving the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-578403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}