In a move that may mark the beginning of a new chapter, or even a slow reversal, in post-Brexit Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has signed a sweeping 12-year deal with the European Union. Spanning trade, fisheries, defense, energy, and youth mobility, the agreement is being sold as a pragmatic step toward economic stability. Yet, for keen observers of European geopolitics and domestic UK policy, this isn’t just about cutting red tape or smoothing customs formalities. It’s about direction, intent, and trajectory; a trajectory, some might argue subtly, but surely points back toward Brussels.

Let’s be clear – this is not rejoining the EU. The UK retains its formal sovereignty, its independent trade policy, and its seat at the World Trade Organization. Yet, in practical terms, this agreement represents a partial realignment with the European regulatory and political sphere. It’s a détente, but one that many suspect could serve as a trial run for re-entry.

Trade and Regulatory Alignment: Quiet Integration
The most immediate impacts will be felt in trade. The deal includes a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement that significantly eases checks on animal and plant products, long a point of friction for exporters. British sausages and cheeses can once again cross the Channel with ease, and exporters have been granted breathing room after years of customs chaos.

The price? The UK will align dynamically with EU food safety rules and standards. Not only that, but the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will have an oversight role in this domain. It’s a politically delicate concession that the previous Conservative government would have balked at, but it is one that Starmer is positioning as an economic necessity rather than a political capitulation.

This kind of soft alignment, regulatory cooperation without full membership, mirrors the arrangements held by countries like Norway and Switzerland. The UK isn’t there yet, but it’s moving in that direction, and the economic benefits are likely to reinforce the case.

Fisheries: Symbolism and Compromise
Few sectors embody the emotion of Brexit like fisheries. The 2016 Leave campaign made maritime sovereignty a powerful symbol of national self-determination. Now, the UK has agreed to extend EU access to its waters for another 12 years, hardly the full “taking back control” once promised.

However, the government insists that the deal does not grant additional quotas to EU vessels, and preserves the right to annual negotiations. To offset the political fallout, £360 million is being invested into modernizing the UK fishing industry, a sweetener aimed at skeptical coastal communities.

Yet symbolism matters. This agreement effectively freezes the reassertion of full UK control over its fisheries until 2038. That’s long enough for an entire generation of voters to become accustomed to a cooperative status quo.

Energy, Climate, and Economic Integration
Perhaps the most telling element of the deal is its ambition in energy and carbon market integration. The UK and EU will link their Emissions Trading Systems (ETS), smoothing the path for cross-border carbon credit trading, and exempting British companies from the EU’s incoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). This could save UK firms an estimated £800 million annually.

In strategic terms, it brings the UK closer to the EU’s climate governance framework, and represents a quiet, but firm repudiation of the “Global Britain” fantasy that post-Brexit Britain could thrive on deregulated free-market exceptionalism.

Security and Mobility: A Return to Practical Cooperation
Defense is also back on the table. The UK will participate in the EU’s PESCO initiative for military mobility, signifying renewed cooperation on troop and equipment movements. Intelligence sharing and sanctions alignment are also included, moves that suggest an increasingly coordinated foreign policy framework, even outside EU structures.

Meanwhile, UK travelers will soon regain access to EU e-gates, reducing airport queues, and negotiations are underway for a youth mobility scheme. The return to the Erasmus+ student exchange programme, in particular, is a major symbolic step, reconnecting young Britons with continental Europe in a way that had been severed post-2020.

A Trial Run for Rejoining?
Viewed in isolation, each element of the deal appears pragmatic and limited. Viewed together, however, they amount to a re-entangling of the UK within EU institutions and standards. The length of the deal, 12 years, is conspicuous. It places a review just past the midpoint of what could be two Labour governments, opening a window in the 2030s for a possible reapplication for membership.

Critics argue that Starmer is “Brexit in name only,” effectively undoing much of the substance of the 2016 vote. Proponents counter that he is offering economic stability, and international credibility without rekindling the divisive debate of formal re-entry, but no one should be under any illusions: this is a serious recalibration. For a generation of younger voters who never supported Brexit, it might just feel like the first step toward righting a historic wrong.

In this light, the 12-year deal may be best understood as a proving ground. It allows both the UK and the EU to rebuild trust, test cooperation mechanisms, and create the legal and political scaffolding that could one day support full re-accession. Starmer may deny it, and Brussels may downplay it, but history has a way of turning such “interim measures” into new norms.

For now, the UK is not rejoining the EU, but the doors, long thought closed, are no longer locked. And the steps taken in this agreement may well be remembered as the start of the long walk back in.

Sources
• BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdy3r6q9mgo
• Sky News: https://news.sky.com/story/uk-eu-trade-deal-what-is-in-the-brexit-reset-agreement-13370912
• Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/21/will-eu-deal-make-food-cheaper-add-12bn-to-the-uk-economy
• Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/66763def-d141-465d-ba96-31399071bf3b
• The Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starmers-done-no-better-with-the-eu-than-may-8l37jm2sf