The prime minister goes on to list the benefits of the deal his government secured with the European Union, saying it gives the UK the "best access" of any country outside the EU to its markets.

Talking about defence, Starmer says the world demands that the UK steps up and that's what the UK-EU deal will deliver - while also paving the way for British firms to access funds.

He mentions emissions trading, saving millions of pounds in carbon taxes and driving down bills.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer gets to his feet inside a fairly full House of Commons to start his ministerial statement on the UK-EU deal.

The prime minister begins by talking about the situation in Gaza.

"We are horrified by the escalation by Israel," he says adding "this war has gone on for far too long".

• Follow our separate live blog on the conflict in the Middle East

Turning to the three deals the government has recently struck with the EU, India and US, Starmer talks about the backbone of principles to these agreements which he says "releases the UK from the tired arguments of the past".

"The UK is back on the world stage," Starmer says.

The PM says steel and aluminium exports have been protected as he lists of some achievements from his "hat-trick of deals".

Shortly, we will be heading to the House of Commons where Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to make a ministerial statement at 12:30 BST.

You can watch what the prime minister has to say by clicking watch live at the top of this page.

We will also be bringing you text updates from the Commons and the latest analysis to what is said. Stay with us.

We're going to be pausing our Your Voice Your BBC News session for now, but we are going to continue reading your questions as they come in.

Some of the topics we covered included whether it will be easier to be recognised as a professional in the EU.

• Our deputy economics editor Dharshini David says the UK government has set up a working group with the EU to see where the need is, but points out in her answer that there is a precedent in the case of Norway as an example

With the summer holidays just around the corner, many of you asked whether Brits will be allowed to use e-gates at European airports.

• Political correspondent Jack Fenwick and transport reporter Simon Browning set out any changes will not be imminent and it will be part of a wider new scheme called the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) which is not due to be rolled out until October
• But, even then it would be up to each individual country as to whether to allow Brits to through the digital port checks

On Northern Ireland, our economics business editor John Campbell answered a few questions, including around the agri-food deal:

• Once this is finalised and signed it should mean a significant easing in trade restrictions from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

John Campbell
BBC News NI economics and business editor

Fiona in Northern Ireland asks: In exchange for giving away our fishing grounds, why didn’t the PM demand the EU get out of Northern Ireland? The EU does not allow the UK to send parcels to NI without shedloads of bureaucracy. The whole UK will now be tied up in mountains of red tape.

NI has effectively remained in the EU’s single market for goods after Brexit.

Five UK Prime Ministers in succession, going back to Theresa May, have accepted that was the most politically viable way to deal with the fallout from Brexit on the island of Ireland.

It means the land border between NI and the Republic of Ireland has remained as open as it was before Brexit.

The flipside is the creation of the ‘sea border’ between GB and NI. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak attempted to mitigate the impact of that but never seriously attempted to roll it back knowing it would blow up the wider UK deal with the EU.

Keir Starmer’s tactic is move the whole of the UK back to a closer relationship with the EU.

Jack Fenwick and Simon Browning
Political correspondent and Transport reporter

Malcolm in Bristol writes: We’d like more clarity on what this means for our travel to Europe. Does the agreement that we Brits can use e-gates mean that we won’t have to provide fingerprints or e-visas to travel to Europe? And when does this agreement come into effect?

Some airports and ports in the EU already allow UK citizens to use e-gates when travelling there, but many don’t.

Yesterday’s agreement provides more clarity. In the future, UK citizens will be able to use e-gates.

But port e-gates in the EU will not be available for UK port holders this summer.

UK citizens will not have access to them until a new EU scheme, which enhances border security, begins in October.

The new European Entry Exit Scheme (EES) gathers biometric data on citizens arriving in the EU from non-member, third party countries which the UK is since Brexit.

EU holiday destinations which have seen long queues of UK arrivals waiting for ports to be checked and stamped will likely continue in the summer of 2025.

Yesterday’s new deal between the UK and EU stipulates in texts from both parties that there will be "no legal barriers to e-gate use for British Nationals traveling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU Entry/Exit System".

But the decision if UK citizens can use e-gates will still fall to individual member states once that October date has ed and EES is in place, for example, it will be for , Spain or to decide.

And even then, there could still be manned desks where people will have to go and scan their fingerprints in order to enter some EU countries.

Plans are also in place which will see UK citizens needing a document similar to a visa to travel to many countries in Europe from next year.

Yesterday’s agreement doesn’t change this.

Image source, Corbis via Getty Images

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

Glyn in Preston asks: Will this deal be submitted to a referendum? Like what Starmer wanted for the current deal.

This deal will not be subject to a referendum.

However, Labour’s election manifesto last year did pledge to secure “an improved and ambitious relationship with our European partners”.

When the Conservative government signed the last deal with the EU in 2020 – the Trade and Cooperation Agreement – it required new legislation, which meant Parliament got a vote.

It’s highly likely that Parliament will get some sort of say this time round too.

While Keir Starmer didn’t specifically call for a referendum on the of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, he has called for another public vote in the past.

During the 2019 election when he was Labour’s Brexit spokesperson, he wanted any “deal” signed by a future Labour government to be put to a public vote – with the option to remain in the EU potentially being on the table too.

That was not a pledge repeated in the 2024 manifesto.

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

Kate, Glyn, Sebastian, Adrian, Russell and Bryan all want to know: When will the pet ports resume again? Will it be in time for the summer holidays?

The short answer is: we don’t yet know.

The agreement yesterday will introduce a new port system making it easier for UK pets to travel and ending the need for repeat vet certificates.

There will obviously be many British holidaymakers keen for these rules to be introduced in time for this summer.

So-called ‘pet ports’ come under the bit of the deal known as the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement.

It’s not yet clear when these new rules will be introduced, but expect the prime minister to be asked about that when he makes a statement in the House of Commons in the next hour (we'll be carrying that live here from around 12:30 BST).

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

Simon asks: I moved to the UK at a young age with my European parents. I'm interested in understanding what this new realignment means for young Europeans who hold Indefinite Leave to Remain. Will this agreement grant voting rights in general elections? Will it make it easier for Europeans to obtain British nationality? And will it expand the rights of those living in the UK under Indefinite Leave to Remain as part of this ‘rapprochement’?

This agreement will not make changes to anyone’s Indefinite Leave to Remain, voting rights or ability to obtain citizenship.

EU citizens who have indefinite leave to remain, but are not UK or Irish citizens, are not eligible to vote in UK general elections.

They can sometimes be eligible to vote in local and devolved elections though.

People who have indefinite leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme can usually apply for British citizenship.

That process involves tests focused on the English language, life in the UK and the intent to continue living in the UK.

Simon Jack
Business editor

Alistair in Hull asks: Will we be able to take raw Lincolnshire sausages into the EU together with gifts of English cheese as we did before? On the other side of the Channel, Hazel in wants to know: Does it mean I can come over back to , with some packets of cheddar cheese?

The answer to both these questions is YES.

But not quite yet.

The ban in importing raw uncooked meat (like sausages) from non-EU countries will be dropped for the UK, but not until a final agreement is signed which could take many weeks or even months and will need to be ratified by Parliament.

James Cook
Scotland editor

Lez in Dumfries asks: Was Scotland involved in these negotiations?

To some extent, that depends on what you mean by "Scotland".

The UK Labour government at Westminster, which carried out the negotiations with the EU, would insist that Scotland was deeply involved because it is the proper constitutional role of UK ministers and officials to represent Scotland on the international stage, including in trade negotiations with foreign nations or trading blocs such as the European Union.

This position was validated, they would point out, by the decisions of Scottish voters to endorse devolution of powers over domestic affairs - such as health and education - to a Scottish Parliament in a 1997 referendum and to reject independence for Scotland in a 2014 referendum.

The Scottish government, run by the Scottish National Party, which wants to see Scotland become an independent country and re- the EU, has a different take:

• It says that the EU consulted, advised and updated its own member states during the negotiating phase and the UK government could and should have done the same with the devolved istrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• The SNP also points out that the UK, including Scotland, left the EU despite a big majority in Scotland voting, in the 2016 referendum on the UK’s hip of the EU, to remain

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

Simon in Maidenhead asks: Will it be easier to be recognised as a professional in the EU now?

The good news is that the government is prioritising the recognition of professional qualifications and acknowledges it’s an issue (as my colleague writes in her response to a question asked a few posts ago).

The government has set up a working group with the EU to look at where need is greatest and what can be done.

But (there’s always a but) we don’t know how long it’ll take or what the outcome will be. In areas where there tends to be seamless mutual recognition of qualifications, there is also freedom of movement – like the EU.

In other cases, it can take protracted deliberations. The existing UK-EU deal allows for sector-by-sector negotiations – but the agreement the EU struck with Canada on architects, the first of its kind, was years in the making.

But there is a precedent.

For example, in the case of Norway, where qualifications are automatically recognised unless there’s a specific reason to do so. However, in practice, that may not be the quick fix it sounds; there is a variety of bodies, public and private, that grant qualifications, which would need scrutiny.