Starmer bets ‘sell-out’ on fish won’t spook Brits weary of Brexit

LONDON — Keir Starmer will be happy with his haul from Monday's Brexit summit. But EU fishermen will be even happier.

The British prime minister used Monday's EU-U.K. Brexit summit to offer major concessions on EU access to U.K. fishing waters — in exchange for a host of favorable terms he's betting tired voters will thank him for.

Ahead of the gathering at London's swish Lancaster House — billed as hitting reset on years of post-Brexit bad blood — Brussels was widely thought to be seeking a 10-year extension to the generous fishing rights its fleets already enjoy in U.K. waters under Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

London offered up four. And in the end, they settled on 12.

The giveaway, pounced on by critics, is a political gamble for Starmer, who appears to be trading a hit to a relatively small by symbolic part of the U.K. economy for wins elsewhere.

The decision immediately gave euroskeptics like Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage and embattled Tory chief Kemi Badenoch a clear line of attack.

Farage declared the agreement "the end of the fishing industry" while Badenoch branded it a "sell-out." Euroskeptic parts of the British press are already following their lead, and even Johnson himself re-emerged to rubbish it in colorful terms.

While downplaying the idea that fishing communities will be severely hit, and offering up both some fresh investment and an easing of food checks as a sweetener, Starmer is hoping his wins in other policy areas will catch Brits' attention.

In getting the green light for a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement and re-entry into the internal electricity market, the U.K. has effectively been allowed to break one of Brussels' cardinal Brexit rules: no "cherry-picking."

Sure, London has sign up to EU rules and listen to European Court of Justice judgments on those topics.

But Brussels has until now been very clear that sector-by-sector participation in parts of the single market was not on the table. Several million tons of fish clearly helped change their minds.

Transparent re-brand

The fish probably also appear to have helped get the deal over the line without too much fuss on another tricky area for Starmer: youth mobility.

At various points in the last year Brussels has looked ready to sink the reset entirely over visas allowing young people to live and work in the U.K. and vice versa, which it regards as a priority.

Starmer long said he had no plans to agree any such scheme — fearing it smelled too much like EU free movement and was politically difficult. In recent weeks he has softened his stance to get the wider deal over the line.

But while the policy, transparently rebranded as a "youth experience" scheme, is in the negotiating roadmap agreed at the summit, the wording is somewhat minimalist and various parts of the EU's original plan are missing.

The agreed text states that the scheme will be time-limited and "on terms to be mutually agreed". There is no mention of lower tuition fees or how long the time-limit would be. One EU diplomat described the policy as a "work-in-progress."

Starmer insisted at his press conference closing the summit that the youth scheme would have a cap on numbers. In fact, the agreement only says that both sides will "ensure that the overall number of participants is acceptable to both sides," which is a little different.

There are some other devils in the detail, too. At the same media briefing, Starmer made a big deal about Brits being allowed to use EU passport gates.

In reality, it'll be up to individual EU member states to decide that. Some have shown no inclination to fill their express lanes with holidaying Brits.

Looking ahead

Some of the more politically difficult negotiations have been kicked into the future, too.

Youth mobility need not have been so politically fraught for Starmer. The U.K. has signed similar arrangements with a dozen countries from Uruguay to Japan without incident. In reality it is just a visa and nothing like freedom of movement.

But in ruling it out for so long and agonizing about its political meaning, Downing Street has arguably made the scheme a flashpoint. This was always a curious choice when Brussels was so insistent on the policy — and it may come back to bite them. Farage will certainly be gnashing its teeth when the details are agreed.

There are other tricky topics ahead, too.

The agreement, Erasmus+ association, and British participation in EU's SAFE defense fund all sound relatively unconventional. But all are likely to require the British government to open its wallet and make financial contributions — which collectively could prompt accusations of another "sell-out."

For now though, Starmer can enjoy his cherry-picking — and Brussels can enjoy its fish.