Nine years after the Brexit referendum, the howls of “surrender” from Britain’s political right over the Labour government’s reset with the EU shows how divisive, and cloaked in misinformation, the issue remains. The agreement is not a massive sellout. Neither is it, in sum, a massive deal. It is, though — like the UK’s recent trade pacts with India and the US — a worthwhile step. Its importance is above all symbolic: the first big UK-wide agreement with the EU since Brexit is a recognition that it is in both sides’ interests to work more closely together.

Given the clout of Britain’s military and its defence industry, the centrepiece is rightly a security and defence pact that will formalise co-operation in military training and mobility, cyber and space security, resilience of infrastructure and countering hybrid threats. Subject to signing a third-country agreement, the pact paves the way for the UK to take part in the EU’s €150bn Security Action for Europe procurement fund — an important prize for both sides.

The pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s government to cut net immigration means it has only reluctantly agreed to work towards a youth mobility scheme enabling 18- to 30-year-olds to travel and work in each others’ countries. Rebadged as a “youth experience” scheme, this would be time-limited and capped in numbers. It is a desirable goal, however, that would reopen important opportunities for young Britons.