The worst international deal it’s possible to imagine? – Part II
The evidence against this Prime Minister keeps piling up
Stand for Our Sovereignty exposes the facts
A co-production with Brexit Facts4EU.Org
- Starmer’s ‘Reset’ deal is worth 3.5 times more to the EU than to the UK
- Yet we’re going to pay them to enable them to benefit even more
- AND we’re now going to be under their laws in perpetuity
In Part I of this report on Starmer’s agri-foods deal with the EU agreed at his ‘EU Reset Summit’, we showed how the UK is in an enviably strong position, as the EU’s largest export market for agri-foods in the World – by a long way.
In today’s report we provide the final, damning evidence from the EU’s own text of the outline agreement, which demonstrates just how bad this agri-foods (‘SPS’) deal really is.
In Part II of this shocking 2-part report, we show how:
- The EU benefits 3.5 times more than the UK from the agri-food trade
- The UK’s agri-food exports have NOT suffered due to Brexit, so this deal is totally unnecessary
- The EU will control the UK’s agri-food trade
- It will decide how our farmers can farm
- It will break the UK’s new trade deals with the likes of the Australia, New Zealand and the US
- The EU will decide what we can import
- In effect they will decide what we can eat
The EU has grown its agri-food exports to the UK by 22% in the last five years, 2020-2024
Stand for Our Sovereignty Summary
Fact 2: The UK’s agri-food exports have NOT suffered, so there’s no reason for this deal
(For Fact 1, please see Part I of this report here)
Our analysis of the imports and exports of agri-foods between the UK and the EU shows several important facts. We have used the latest official figures, so there can be no debate. Euros converted into pound at the ONS average rate for each year.
It should be noted that the UK’s exports to the EU overall have fallen slightly, somewhat compensated for by exports to the rest of the world. The other key factor is that the EU no longer counts exports from the UK as being from the UK if they first came from another country. This is because of their ‘rules of origin’ rules. For example, if the UK exported pineapples to the EU (not grown in the UK but imported from Latin America), then these no longer count as UK exports to the EU. The EU’s ‘rules of origin’ have had the effect of reducing the total number and value of food products counted as exports to the EU, even though that business is still being conducted by UK businesses.
The UK’s agri-food exports to the EU since Brexit – 2020-2024
© Stand for Our Sovereignty / Facts4EU 2025 – click to enlarge
[Source(s) : EU Commission]
Fact 3 – The EU’s agri-foods exports to the UK have kept growing
Not only is the UK the EU’s No.1 export market in the world for agri-foods, this business has been slowly growing over the last five years.
The EU’s agri-food exports to the UK since Brexit – 2020-2024
© Stand for Our Sovereignty / Facts4EU 2025 – click to enlarge
[Source(s) : EU Commission]
The above shows clearly that the UK is an essential market for the EU’s agri-food sector. If the UK were to impose checks on EU food and animals entering the UK in the way that the EU has already done for the UK’s food and animals going the other way, this could severely impact an important part of the EU’s economy.
Catherine McBride OBE, National Committee Member of CIBUK and former member of the UK’s Trade and Agriculture Commission, commented on our report
“Possibly the worst part is that EU control of the UK’s food and agriculture is the Government’s “ask” in the negotiations. The EU’s “ask” is for free movement, and probably a subsidised education for their unemployed young people.
Our government wants to be reliant on food imported from the EU, is happy to abandon our new trade agreements with Australia, New Zealand and the CPTPP, and despite the UK’s massive borrowing, is willing to add to that by giving the EU a blank check to control our food supply instead of employing UK citizens to operate customs.”
Latest EU papers from Starmer’s ‘Re-set’ show we’re now going to be dragged back into the EU
more rapidly than anyone thought.
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The scope – what does this cover?
Here is a reminder from Part I of this report.
This deal is about what we eat, how it’s sold to us, what we produce agriculturally including our animals, and even what we import to eat. The term ‘organic’ in the longer description simply means ‘living’, not the term applied in supermarkets for food produced naturally.
Verbatim quotes from Commission’s text and our translations
This doesn’t only cover EU products, it covers all food from around the world
What the EU says:
“In addition, the agreement should provide that certain provisions of Union law, including emergency measures and those applicable to the entry of animals, plants, food/feed products of animal or plant origin as well as related products, into the Union from the rest of the world are immediately applicable to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Great Britain.”
It goes on to talk about the possibility of exceptions being made but makes it absolutely clear that : “only animals, plants and goods which comply with Union law can enter the Union.”
What the EU means:
This agreement means that all products from around the world will have to comply with EU law, not only those from the EU. Incredibly, the UK will no longer be able to import what it wants. Only products acceptable to the EU may be imported. This has major implications for the UK’s trade deals as we shall see below. In effect, the EU will decide what we can eat.
The EU will decide how our farmers can farm
What the EU says:
“Phytosanitary” is in the name of the agreement and means “concerning the health of plants; especially the freedom from pests.” The text itself also includes “the regulation of live animals and pesticides.”
What the EU means:
Farming in the UK is, on average, of a more sophisticated standard than in many parts of the EU. This includes the use of well-proven pesticides which increase the productivity of the land. In addition, British farming is far ahead in its development of gene editing for the same reason. Under the EU’s ‘precautionary principle’ which it applies to everything, British farmers will almost inevitably be held back from using the latest techniques, thereby reducing competitiveness and growth.
The EU will decide food policy overall
What the EU says:
“Neither agreement should give the United Kingdom the right to participate in the Union’s decision-making.” “The European Commission should consult the United Kingdom at an early stage of policy-making. These rights would not extend to participation in the work of the Council or its preparatory bodies.”
What the EU means:
The EU will decide all future policy on food. The UK might be informed but won’t be involved.
Every time the EU changes its laws, the UK must do so at the same time
What the EU says:
“Both agreements should provide for an obligation for the United Kingdom to dynamically align to the relevant Union legislation. The principle of dynamic alignment should ensure that identical rules within the scope of the agreement are simultaneously applied.”
What the EU means:
Not only must the UK accept all existing EU law, it must jump every time the EU changes or increases its laws at the same time.
The next steps
It must be stressed that the Commission texts are NOT final and must be negotiated. That said, we already have evidence of the strength of Sir Keir’s negotiating skills. In the one area where a specific deal was agreed at the Re-set Summit, on the last night preceding the meeting the French increased the extension of the egregious fishing deal to 12 years, from an expected 3-5 years. This was meekly accepted by Sir Keir.
With this precedent, it seems highly probable that the bulk of the EU’s outrageous demands on the SPS agri-foods deal will go through much as the EU has drafted them.
The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood commented on our report, 23 July 2025
“The EU re-set destroys Brexit. It makes us a rule taker. We have to pay the EU money so they can boss us about more. We voted to be a sovereign nation again, not a prisoner of EU law which makes paying them effectively like paying ransom money.
“The re-set deal does not help our exports to the EU but can damage our faster growing non-EU trade. The benefits of all those hard-won trade deals around the world, recently trumpeted by Sir Keir Starmer himself, will vanish in acrimony as our new partners will feel betrayed.
“Why does the government continually want to inflict so much damage on our country and impair our ability to govern ourselves?”
Observations
The rush to give up as much of our sovereignty as possible, as fast as possible
Our source in the Commission building tells us that all the talk is about quickly negotiating and agreeing the final text of this and the other agreements Starmer announced as part of the ‘Great EU Re-set Summit’. It seems the Commission would like to have this deal – and several others – wrapped up by Christmas if they can. For the usually lumbering EU, this represents doing them at breakneck speed.
Not only do they want to lock these in so they start getting the benefits, all of which flow to them, but they also want to ensure they are concluded if for any reason Starmer were to be replaced as Labour leader, and therefore as Prime Minister. There is also talk about the possibility of this entire government not lasting its term.
For his part, it seems that Sir Keir feels he can present these deals as successes, to offset partially some of the many areas where he is coming in for major criticism.
This must be stopped
What cannot be allowed to happen is for a deal anything like the one contained in these texts we have studied from the EU to be allowed to proceed. If the Government should attempt to sign anything like this, it should provoke the most serious protests seen since Brexit.
We have demonstrated that there is no justification for this outrage. All the gains are on the EU’s side and all the costs and disadvantages are on the UK’s. We would go as far as to say that any Prime Minister agreeing to a deal like this would clearly be acting against the interests of his own country.
In times of yore, the penalty for this would be severe. In today’s world, we must use every legal and parliamentary means to stop him.
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Main image: Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025