The two sides have however agreed to open talks on how business mobility can be improved — a major ask of firms on both sides of the Channel.
Under the new deal, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and EU High Representative Kaja Kallas will hold a dialogue once per semester, in addition to regular exchanges on Russia-Ukraine, hybrid threats and Western Balkans, according to one of the diplomats.
EU and U.K. leaders are set to finalize the agreement later on Monday during the London summit.
Bumpy landing in London
In the U.K., ministers flooded the airwaves early Monday morning to hail the deal, as scrutiny began in earnest of what had been agreed.
Rachel Reeves, the country’s top finance minister, hosted an early morning meeting of business leaders in Downing Street, and said the deal was about bringing “more good jobs,” reducing prices in the shops by removing red tape, and bigging up the U.K.’s defense ties with allies.
Nigel Farage’s Eurosceptic Reform UK party was crying “surrender” even before the details of the deal even fully emerged, while Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch warned on fishing: “12 years access to British waters is three times longer than the [government] wanted. We’re becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again.”
A spokesperson for the governing Labour Party said of the Tory response: “This is hypocrisy, pure and simple. We will take no lessons from Conservatives who heralded their deal and now criticize ours.”
Annabelle Dickson contributed to this report. This developing story is being updated.