---
title: Andy Burnham meets António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen for the second EU-UK summit this month
description: Andy Burnham meets EU leaders in Brussels on 20th November. The food, energy, youth visa and defence deals on the table, and what they mean for you.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-11-01T08:39:36.935Z
updated: 2026-11-01T08:50:25.662Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/eu-uk-summit-brussels-20-november
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-12192321.webp
categories: Politics, EU Focus
content_type: News
region: United Kingdom
publication: Sovereign Magazine
about:
  - type: Person
    name: Andy Burnham
    description: Andy Burnham is a British Labour politician who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 20 July 2026. He was previously Mayor of Greater Manchester and served in the Cabinet under Gordon Brown.
    jobTitle: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    sameAs:
      - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Burnham
  - type: Organization
    name: European Union
---

Scottish salmon is Britain's largest food export, and on 20th November it could find a smoother road into Europe. Andy Burnham told MPs on 12th October that every consignment goes through a document check at the border today, at a cost of around £100 million in lost exports. The deal on the table could also open the EU to British burgers and fresh meat, seed potatoes from Scotland and shellfish from Wales.

Burnham travels to Brussels that day for the second EU-UK summit since Brexit. European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will host him, and the leaders are expected to issue a joint declaration at the end of the meeting. According to the Council, they will build on the strategic partnership agreed at the first summit in London on 19th May 2025, taking stock of progress on defence and security, energy, agrifood rules, climate, people-to-people contacts, migration and law enforcement.

Eight days earlier, on 12th November, European leaders gather in Dublin for the European Political Community meeting, which brings the EU together with its neighbours, Britain included.

## The food deal would open European shelves to more British produce

The deal furthest along covers food, plants and animals, known in Brussels as the sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS, agreement. It would remove export health certificates for most consignments and end routine checks on animal and plant products at the border. Burnham told MPs it would lift paperwork costs that can reach £1,400 on a single shipment, and spare small businesses export health certificates that cost up to £200 each. For households, he said, it would ease the pressure on supermarket prices. If you send cheese, meat, fish or plants to the continent, most of that paperwork would disappear.

Under the agreement, the UK would keep its food and animal standards in step with the EU's as they change, a system known as dynamic alignment. The King's Speech on 13th May 2026 announced a European Partnership Bill to give ministers the powers to do so, and a Commons committee report expects the SPS and carbon deals to be running by mid-2027.

## Linked carbon and electricity markets could bring energy costs down

The second agreement links the British and EU carbon markets, in which power stations and factories buy permits for the carbon they emit. Negotiators have also been working since December 2025 on bringing Britain back into the EU electricity market. Burnham told MPs the energy deal could help lower costs for households and businesses alike, and could cut wholesale energy costs in Northern Ireland by 20%.

## A youth visa and Erasmus+ would open Europe to a new generation

The youth experience scheme would let people under 30 from Britain and the EU work, study, volunteer or travel in each other's countries for a limited period. Britain already runs similar schemes with 13 countries outside the EU, and the government has set out terms in line with those, with no access to benefits and no right to bring dependants. A House of Commons Library briefing records that negotiators had agreed the outline of the scheme, together with the food and carbon deals, by late September, and Burnham named it among the deals on the table on 12th October.

Erasmus+ is already agreed. Britain rejoins the EU exchange programme for students, apprentices and teachers in 2027, and the government will pay £570 million for the 2027/28 academic year, a 30% discount on the standard terms. More than 100,000 people in the UK could benefit in the first year alone. If you have children in school, college or university, that means study and work placements across Europe from 2027.

## Shared records would help police on both sides catch smuggling gangs

Burnham told MPs the summit could link British and European law enforcement again, with more sharing of data and of the criminal records of foreign nationals, and faster access to electronic evidence from the phones of the people behind smuggling gangs. Controlling illegal immigration is one of his two aims for the summit, alongside growth.

## Defence cooperation has room to grow

Defence and security come first on the Council's agenda, building on the security and defence partnership agreed in London in May 2025. Canada showed this year how far that cooperation can go when it [became the first non-European country to join SAFE](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/canada-eu-associate-membership), the EU's €150 billion defence loan scheme, and at the end of October its leaders [agreed a new alliance with the EU in Montreal](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/canada-eu-historic-alliance-associate-member). British firms can already take part in SAFE-funded projects as third-country suppliers, and the joint declaration on 20th November will set out the next step for Britain.

## Industry and trade rules are on the table too

Burnham will also put Britain's case on the EU's 'Made in Europe' plans in Brussels, and told MPs he sees an opportunity to make progress in all of the areas under discussion. Talks on a British role in the plan will follow once the EU finalises it, according to the House of Commons Library. EU leaders have welcomed the warmer tone from London, the Associated Press reported.

## What success on 20th November looks like

Burnham has put a number on the prize. He told MPs the deals would add the equivalent of more than £10 billion a year to the UK economy by 2040, with the potential to add significantly more. He said the British public will be 'the boss' at every stage, and after the summit he wants a serious dialogue about Britain's long-term relationship with the EU, a question Sovereign examined in [Burnham Puts Free Movement Back on the Table Four Weeks Before His First EU Summit](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/burnham-eu-free-movement-summit).

For you, the joint declaration on 20th November will show what the reset brings home: dates for the food and carbon deals, the shape of the youth visa and the next step on defence. Each of them reaches your business, your bills or your children.