Negotiations between London and Brussels are continuing ahead of a summit, which has yet to be rescheduled after Britain’s change of government.
Jon Stone, Sam Blewett
But negotiators on both sides say these agreements all come as a package and cannot proceed separately. Brussels insists that the tuition fees issue should be dealt with as part of the proposed youth mobility scheme.
Summit’s up
The agreements were meant to be finalized at a summit in Brussels earlier in July, but the meeting was postponed following Starmer’s resignation as prime minister.
Andy Burnham and his EU interlocutors have both said they want to set a new date for the meeting this year. Its looming nature was previously concentrating the minds of negotiators on getting the deals over the line in time.
No new date has yet been set. In contrast to his predecessor, Burnham has started his premiership with a “rolling thunder” of mostly domestic-policy focused announcements.
Officials on both sides have, however, said they expect the meeting to be held in October or November to dodge the summer break, the U.N. General Assembly, and the Labour Party conference.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Starmer’s Brexit minister, had been leading preparations on the U.K. side for the original summit, but left government along with his boss and was replaced in the EU relations brief by a new minister, Hamish Falconer. Falconer spoke to his EU counterpart, trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, shortly after his appointment last week.
