UK–EU reset priorities

The Industry Forum and Business with Europe held a productive meeting to discuss UK-EU reset progress and priorities prior to the next summit meeting, likely in July 2026. It is clear that the relationship between the UK and the EU has dramatically improved since the election of the UK Labour government. The discussion was led by Trevor Greetham and Nick Harvey CEO of European Movement UK also participated. Useful progress to improve trade is being made in a number of sectors but the UK government’s red lines mean that dramatic and rapid improvements are unlikely. This will make it difficult for the government to reduce the extra Civil Service staff costs incurred to cope with Brexit, and there will be a similar cost burden for private sectors. For example, chemical industries have had to employ hundreds of extra chemists to deal with post Brexit regulations and many SMEs have had to accept the costs of increased regulation, or cease trading with EU customers. Hopefully, such economic considerations, and the transformed and more threatening geopolitical environment since 2016 will give rise to a more fundamental revision of the UK-EU relationship.