Member-only story
Brexit, reset or stall?
Last week, the UK and the EU met at the most senior levels in what the labour government has described as a reset of EU relations. As usual, the conclusions are best documented on the EU website where they published a joint communique. Certainly the results of the negotiations have changed few minds. While I consider that the best result would be if both sides walked out thinking they’d won, my feeling is that this was a draw, although no major breakthroughs occurred and a huge opportunity wasted, primarily due to the lack of vision and ambition on the part of the Labour government.
The words on defence co-operation are the most concrete, although further negotiations are required and while UK companies will be able to bid for work from the EU, HMG will have to contribute to the budget.
The relegation of words by recasting youth mobility as youth experience, illustrates the stubborn recidivism of the labour government and the fact is, that there has been no movement by the EU on creative workers’ freedom of movement.
The two sides have agreed to continue to talk about an agricultural deal, and greater cooperation in the electricity, carbon and energy markets. The agricultural deal is crucial so reducing paperwork checks both between Great Britain and the European Union and also between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
