‘Amexit’ must force us to rethink Brexit
Keir Starmer speaks with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Sept 2024 (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP)
4 min read
Nearly 10 years on from the Brexit vote, the unsayable has become the inescapable.
Suddenly faced with a radically altered global trade and geopolitical environment, UK ministers are finally moving to break down the barriers we unilaterally built with our largest trading partner and nearest ally.
For we are now history’s witnesses to a transformation in the Western alliance.
American officials might declare that “America First” does not mean “America Alone”. But it’s very clear President Donald Trump is retreating from the multilateral system built by Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.
So, at the heart of our new trade strategy must be an ambitious reset of our EU relations. Bluntly put: ‘Amexit’ must force us to rethink Brexit.
Today, our relationship with the EU is stuck in yesterday’s logic. We can’t risk the unity and political stability secured at the last election – there will be no leap to rejoin the Customs Union or Single Market – but mere tinkering will not do. We must find a bold but pragmatic new way forward.
The Business and Trade Committee is currently running inquiries on the UK’s imminent industrial strategy and export-led growth, where in evidence Best for Britain shared its calculations that close alignment with the EU on goods alone would more than offset the impact of the USA’s chaotic tariff war.
But the government has declined to set out its thinking on how to remake this relationship for maximum mutual benefit. Enter the committee’s “green paper in lieu”, How to strengthen UK-EU relations: 20 ways we can begin to fix Brexit’s crippling hit to UK growth and prosperity, published at the beginning of April after a series of meetings in Brussels and at the World Trade Organization. Our consultation with UK businesses, trade unions and consumer groups closed last week.
We’ll set out those findings shortly, ahead of the UK-EU summit later this month, but as a starter the report sets out how we can draw closer to our neighbours to strengthen our joint security, grow our economy and raise the standard of living – as every government owes to the people it serves. These 20 practical measures – short and medium term, spanning economic security and defence, boosting trade in goods, services, energy and culture – are proposals that government could begin negotiations on. Here are some headlines:
- A new EU-UK security pact, facilitating a shared approach to defence industrial strategy, co-operating to protect shared critical national infrastructure, and strengthening co-ordination to tackle unfair trade practices like industrial subsidies, state-owned enterprise advantages, and forced technology transfers by competitors like China;
- Prioritise energy co-operation reconnecting electricity trading systems to unlock the potential of the ‘world’s largest wind farm’ in the North Sea, and developing a shared Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism;
- Transform support for the UK goods sector, which has struggled to grow in recent years in comparison to OECD countries, through an ambitious SPS (food safety and animal and plant health) agreement, a multi-year settlement on fisheries, bold action to cut red tape at the border with an overhaul of customs co-operation, and rejoining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention on rules of origin;
- Clear long-term regulatory road maps to maximise compatible regulation for sectors where there are mutual gains to both UK and EU, plus an ambitious review of mutual recognition of conformity assessments on product safety;
- Support Britain’s burgeoning services trade through measures including agreeing a permanent data adequacy agreement, deepening research and development, better regulatory co-operation in financial services, engaging on potential mutual recognition of professional qualifications, and an ambitious but number-limited, visa-based youth mobility scheme.
Our survey on this report may have ended but our inquiries will continue, and we welcome further input and ideas. There is so much at stake. We must all help ensure the reset is as bold and effective as it can be.
Liam Byrne is Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, and chair of the Business and Trade Committee
