GLOBAL: EU Officials Say Negotiations on Reciprocal Tariff Rate Becoming Harder

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is delivering a statement to the House of Commons regarding the agreement reached with the European Union on 19 May. Livestream here. Starmer says that "These deals release us from the tired arguments of the past," claiming that the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement in particular will aid UK farmers and facilitate trade between Great Britain and the EU. 

• Sky News reports "more consequential than any numbers is the fact that this government has committed to something its predecessors refused to countenance: aligning certain regulations (most notably food standards) with the European Union." This is important in the long run, as 'dynamic alignment' with the EU on regulations (particularly on food) will limit if not extinguish the UK's ability to negotiate full and deep trade deals with third countries, rather than thinner agreements as seen recently with the US and India.
• Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch has said that she would reverse the deal if her party came to power, calling it a "total capitulation". However, the likelihood of her party having the chance to do so looks narrower and narrower, with the latest YouGov opinion poll showing the Conservatives with its lowest level of support in at least 24 years, falling to fourth place behind the right-wing populist Reform UK, Starmer's centre-left Labour party, and the centrist pro-EU Liberal Democrats. YouGov: Reform UK: 29% (+1), Labour: 22% (-1), Liberal Democrat: 17% (+1), Conservatives: 16% (-2), Greens: 10% (+1). Fieldwork 18-19 May (chgs w/11-12 May). 

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