Minister ‘Pushing’ for deal on the UK use of EU passport E-ports

A deal that would enable British passport holders to use EU-E ports at airports is “pushed”, a minister’s minister has confirmed.

Minister of European Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds, who leads negotiations prior to a UK-EU top in London, said that an agreement to prevent people from being stuck in border-walk rows “would be a very sensible goal”.

Asked whether the UK should follow more EU rules in some areas as part of any deals, he told the BBCs on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg “It will mean that he must take a sovereign choice about … the common standards that we want to coordinate”.

Conservative MP Alex Burghart claimed that the proposed deal of the government with the EU could mean that the UK would become a “control contractor”.

The UK and the EU will hold their first bilateral top since Brexit on Monday, described by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as a “really important moment”.

Sir Keir is expected to announce a deal when he meets the European Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyen and the European Council Chairman Antonio Costa.

Announcements on trade and security are expected to include British access to an EU defense fund of 150 billion euros (£ 125 billion), in what could be a boost for British defense companies.

But reports suggest that there may also be similarities to enable British travelers to use e-ports at European airports, cut bureaucracy on the export and import of food and setting up a youth mobility scheme with the EU.

Thomas-Symonds described conversations as in “The All Final Hours” and said that he was driven by “ruthless pragmatism” and focused on jobs, lower household accounts and stronger limits.

The minister also said that the government would assess whether it would contribute to EU projects to EU projects on a case-by-case basis, and said that it would “consider everyone on her merits”.

Asked if he was convinced that British travelers could use EU E ports in European airports, Thomas-Symonds said: “I assume that people can endure much faster.

“I think we can all agree that it is not stuck in queues and have more time to spend, whether it is on vacation or work trips, have more time to do what you want … would be a very sensible goal.”

The minister said he had faith in a deal about food, but added: “Nothing was agreed until everything has been agreed”.

He added: “We know that we waited for 16 hours of trucks, fresh food in the back is not able to be exported, because it is honestly just go off, bureaucracy, all the certifications that are needed, we absolutely want to reduce that.”

Burgart told the program that was his greatest concern that the government signed up for the EU standards and “became a control contractor – one of the things we specifically left when we left the EU”.

He said that the government had not excluded “dynamic coordination”, so that the VK and the EU would maintain equivalent regulatory standards on food and trade, even though the VK is not “in the Chamber” when future decisions are made.

He added: “Because the government did not judge that we have to assume that it is very firmly on the table and is about to happen.

“And when it is about to happen, then that is a surrender of part of the sovereignty of Great Britain and we will not be in front of it”.

About a deal about whether young people from the EU can come and live in the UK and vice versa, Thomas-Symonds insisted that he negotiated “a smart and controlled schedule”, adding that “no one remotely suggests that the freedom of movement is. That is a red line for us”.

The minister did not respond directly to questions about whether there would be a limit on figures or time limited visas, such as in existing regulations with Australia and Canada, But stress “that checking element is extremely important”.

He also denied that there were plans to release student numbers from the general migration figures and added: “Everything that matches – and I emphasize that this is in sensitive last hours – will be consistent with reducing the level of net migration as we have promised”.

Liberal -Democrat MP Calum Miller, who appeared on the same program, said that he was “worried by the feeling that the government is not taking this moment, in the context of a changed environment, to really continue” about EU relationships.

The spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Party said: “Put ourselves on an ambitious path to a customs union is the best way to give the British companies some certainty”.

Miller also claimed that the removal of bureaucracy between the UK and the EU could be worth £ 25 billion, and a customs union could further increase the income.

Reform the British leader Nigel Farage claimed an EU deal with a youth mobility scheme and the expansion of fishing rights for the EU in British waters would mean that “to a large extent starmer Brexit would” come “if he was a prime minister.

Speaking with the Broadcasting House of BBC Radio 4, Farage said that a youth mobility schedule “Free Traffic of people would” be “and” we know that this will be a one -way street – many more people will come here than go in the other direction “.

Farage suggested that a deal would mean for defense: “We are going to see the appearance of the British soldiers under an EU flag” before they absolutely add “EU cooperation under an EU flag, no”.