UK and EU agree draft deal scrapping Brexit food checks
Britain and the EU have agreed a 200-page draft sanitary and phytosanitary agreement removing post-Brexit checks on food and agricultural trade, ahead of a UK–EU summit this month. EU member states will consider the text in Brussels on Wednesday, alongside drafts on emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme. It is the most significant element of the Brexit reset so far.
The deal would remove £200 export health certificates, £25 phytosanitary certificates, inspector fees and sampling charges, and allow exports of fresh sausages, burgers, domestic shellfish and seed potatoes to resume. For Northern Ireland, it would also remove many restrictions on food moving from Great Britain, easing the Irish Sea border. A 15-page draft joint statement for leaders has been circulated too. Every element was on the table under Sir Keir Starmer; the change of leader delayed the summit.