Did Brexit make Britain more European?

The United Kingdom and European Union just signed what's being called the most significant reset of trade and defense ties since Brexit. Sausages are back on the menu, fishing rights are up for debate, and somehow the whole thing has made Britain more European by leaving Europe.

This week on Craft Politics: Christine Quigley, Crestview Strategy partner and Labour Party member, joins Joseph Lavoie and Andrew Percy to answer whether this landmark UK-EU deal is a Brexit sellout, a strategic win, or proof that leaving the EU paradoxically pushed Britain closer to the continent.

We discuss:

What's actually in the deal. British sausages can now be sold in the EU, European boats can fish UK waters for 12 years, and youth mobility schemes are back. Plus Erasmus, e-gates at airports, and closer defense cooperation through the SAFE project. The sectors that made it in, and the ones that didn't.

Dynamic alignment and rule taking. The UK now follows EU phytosanitary rules on agriculture, with the European Court of Justice as final arbiter. For hardline Brexiteers, that's a sovereignty sellout. For Percy, an EFTA-plus Brexiteer, Labour's red lines actually go further than his own did.

The paradox Percy spotted. Leaving the EU made it easier for Brexiteers to talk about being European. When the relationship isn't defined purely through EU membership, cooperation on Ukraine, defense, and trade feels less like endorsing a project you opposed.

Reform's 30% problem. Latest polling has Reform UK first on 30%, Labour second on 24%, Tories fourth on 15%. Christine's take: you can't out-Farage Farage. And both Labour and the Conservatives face the same threat in their safest seats, not their marginals.

What Canada's missing. The UK locked in deals with the US, EU, and India in weeks. Canada hasn't moved. Christine's warning: this EU deal makes UK-Canada agricultural trade harder, and CPTPP ratification is stalled over beef and dairy.

Trump as accelerant, not catalyst. Christine argues Labour was always going ideologically pro-EU, but Trump's isolationism sped everything up. Percy agrees Europeans now view security differently, and that's pushed Britain and the continent closer together.

Also discussed: why younger voters wanted Remain but there's no majority for rejoining, why the most passionate pro-Europeans made going back in harder by refusing to accept the result, Ireland's habit of running referendums twice, and whether 50% plus one is ever the right threshold for constitutional change.

00:00 Welcome and the landmark UK-EU reset deal
01:30 Breaking down the deal — fishing, agriculture, and youth mobility
02:45 What's missing and what's next — medicines and the evolving conversation
04:37 Red lines and political positioning — Labour's Brexit balancing act
05:42 Dynamic alignment and the sovereignty question
11:01 The Brexit spectrum — from EFTA plus to hard exit
12:24 Has Brexit made Britain more European?
18:00 Trump, Putin, and the new European security reality
20:05 Was Trump the catalyst or just the accelerant?
22:09 The impossible dream of rejoining the EU
23:03 Brussels is still furious — the political scars of Brexit
23:35 Referendum regrets and the 50 percent plus one problem
26:01 Irony alert — Labour secures the Brexit dividend trade deals
27:10 Canada left behind — implications for UK-Canada trade
30:45 The hard truth about trade diversification
32:06 The Reform threat — Labour and Tories face the same populist challenge
33:38 You can't out-Farage Farage — the simplicity problem
36:43 Wrap and final thoughts