Image Credits: Garry Knight via EU Reports
As a part of his goal to improve UK relationships with the European Union (EU), Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to announce billions of pounds worth of new trade deals with the EU in areas including youth visas and agriculture.
Certain areas of the deal have been scrutinised by the public, such as the UK paying for access to the EU’s emissions trading scheme. Critics say that the UK is signing up for the same rule they hoped to avoid when leaving the UK.
In response to this criticism, the Prime Minister has said that the agreement with the bloc would boost the UK economy by £17b, an increase of 0.4%, which he says is a number “you cannot ignore”.
Burnham is set to travel to Brussels to meet president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen and Antonio Costs, the president of the European Council, where they are expected to announce the deals.
Segments of the deal include an agricultural agreement, which the UK government believes will be worth over £5bn to the economy, access to the EU’s emissions trading scheme and a youth visa scheme for people aged under 30.
Under the agricultural deal, travellers would no longer have to get a certificate to transport live animals, such as pets, into the European Union. The UK would also pay the EU billions of pounds to avoid a carbon tax which is set to be implemented next January.
The “youth experience scheme” would allow people aged under 30 to live, work, and travel across Europe and, if a member state refuses to issue its quota of visas to UK nationals, the UK would in turn restrict the number of visas for nationals travelling to the UK.