Joël Reland

After years of making the running on immigration, Farage may this week have handed the initiative back to his opponents'. @robfordmancs.bsky.social for @ukandeu.bsky.social on the unpopularity of Reform's proposals on ILR ukandeu.ac.uk/reforms-radi...

Interesting piece on the success of the Social Democratic government in Spain and the lessons for Labour. The penultimate paragraph was particularly striking renewal.org.uk/articles/dar...

One for the nerds here... New briefing on the key issues to resolve in the UK-EU ETS negotiations.

And for the slightly less nerdy, here's a blog on why the broader set of negotiations could prove tricky ukandeu.ac.uk/uk-eu-negoti...

Strong stuff - lays out the political and historical reasons why the ECHR is so integral to the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, and why a 'British Bill of Rights' could never occupy the same role

The European Convention on Human Rights and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement - UK in a changing Europe This explainer examines the relationship between the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the European Convention on Human Rights. It explores the role that...

This explainer by @joellegrogan.bsky.social and @alicedonald.bsky.social looks at the relationship between the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement and the ECHR

To understand what role the ECHR plays and what UK withdrawal would mean for Northern Ireland, read this 👇

ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/t...

Parliamentlive.tv Foreign Affairs Committee

Very underwhelming FAC session on the UK-EU reset - which felt like it was stuck in 2024 with same old stuff about fish, touring artists and sovereignty but almost no detailed interrogation of ETS/SPS/energy talks or wider global challenges.
parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

IT'S OUT! @ukandeu.bsky.social brand new survey of the policy challenges confronting the UK, done in partnership with the wonderful @resfoundation.bsky.social ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/poli... 1/???

"One of his revealed flaws in his personnel appointments is that he seems to prefer appointing people whose attitude or background he likes, rather than look at whether they are equipped to do the job."

@jillongovt.bsky.social reflects on why Starmer struggles to get the machinery of govt. going

Timely analysis from UKICE (@cbarnard.bsky.social) as per

UKICE Lunch Hour: UK-EU relations during negotiations - UK in a changing Europe Ahead of this autumn's negotiations, join our expert panel as they discuss the what they will mean for the UK's relationship with the EU.

‼️ Don't miss our panel on the negotiations to come between the UK and EU on the policy areas outlined at the summit

W/ @anandmenon.bsky.social, @cbarnard.bsky.social, @jillongovt.bsky.social, @jannikewachowiak.bsky.social & @jreland.bsky.social

💻 Online, Weds 10 Sept

ukandeu.ac.uk/events/ukice...

Hot topics, hard choices • Resolution Foundation After a not-so-quiet summer, MPs are returning from recess to a torrent of public policy challenges. Immigration remains the public’s top concern, with the economy and the NHS not far behind. Defence ...

📣 NEW EVENT 📣

Join us and @resfoundation.bsky.social as we launch the latest edition of our Policy Landscape report with expert analysis of the biggest public policy challenges facing the UK

📅 Tues 2 Sept, 9:30am
📍In-person (London) & online

Sign up 👇

www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/hot-t...

The future of UK-EU relations - UK in a changing Europe Join UK in a Changing Europe and The Open University in Brussels as they bring together leading academics, think tankers, officials and journalists in Brussels to discuss UK-EU relations.

In Brussels in September? Come along! ukandeu.ac.uk/events/the-f...

“Man-made famine is not something that I’ve seen in my lifetime." - Martin Griffiths, UN’s former humanitarian chief.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The UK-EU realignment is underway It’s fair to say that our UK-EU Regulatory Divergence Tracker is a niche product. But, now in its thirteenth edition, this is the first time that its headline finding is already common…

encompass-europe.com/comment/the-... @jreland.bsky.social @ukandeu.bsky.social

Our director @anandmenon.bsky.social on @gbnewsonline.bsky.social introducing the latest edition of our UK-EU Divergence Tracker

The report by @jreland.bsky.social finds that there is already more UK alignment with the EU than is generally recognised

Find out more 👇

ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/uk-e...

How Parliament can take back control of the EU reset deal - UK in a changing Europe The Chair of the Labour Movement for Europe on the need to address Parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s Brexit deal. Across red...

"And in the ultimate of ironies, the only place which hasn’t taken back control following Brexit is the House of Commons itself."

@stellacreasy.bsky.social on the need to address Parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s Brexit deal.

ukandeu.ac.uk/how-parliame...

Glad you enjoyed it!

UK-EU relations: alignment by stealth - UK in a changing Europe Coinciding with the publication of the thirteenth edition of the UK-EU Divergence Tracker, Joël Reland explains some of the reports key findings. He argues that the scale of alignment by the UK with E...

New blog summing up the findings of the divergence tracker ukandeu.ac.uk/uk-eu-relati...

"On the vast majority of issues, the UK and EU are [now] partners before they are competitors... the Brexit imperative for the UK to demonstrate its regulatory independence... appears dead in the water."

Generally speaking yes - I don't think there is any desire to diverge on CE. But how systematically they seek to align in practice is another question. Delivery might be challenging.

Thanks! We are funded until next May

This is a turning point in the divergence story. The need to demonstrate 'freedom' from EU regulation appears all but gone.

Instead, the UK and EU are broadly aligned on most issues, with EU regulation helping to guide UK policy thinking, rather than being something to outmanoeuvre.

[ENDS]

There are still a fair few cases of divergence (that is the inevitable reality of being outside the single market) but these are relatively inconsequential on the whole.

Financial services is an exception: where the UK actively thinks it can get a competitive advantage by deregulating.

The UK and EU also have strikingly similar plans to try and boost their ailing economies: ‘red tape’ culls; industrial strategies to reduce biz energy costs; ‘action plans’ to upscale AI infrastructure; driving consumer savings into capital markets. This all opens up oppos for expertise-sharing.

Even though the UK has also struck its own agreements with the US and India (while the EU has done a deal with the South American Mercosur bloc) the EU is now clearly a key part of the UK’s trade strategy.

The 'Global Britain' idea of trade with ROW replacing the EU is dead and buried.

The UK has defied the US by planning to join an EU-backed trade arbitration body; is supporting EU efforts to build an alliance with the ‘CPTPP’ bloc; and is seeking to join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (though the EU has thrown a bit of a spanner into the works on the latter).

Trend 3: is what we might call ‘coordination’, where the UK and EU take joint action on topics of shared interest, without any formal agreement or legislation.

Trade policy is, perhaps surprisingly, a key focus for this.

The govt also says it will consider aligning with two new EU laws, on craft products and substance labelling, applicable in NI, to mitigate any GB-NI divergence.

This suggests that voluntary alignment with NI-applicable EU law (there’s lots) could become a regular way of avoiding GB-NI divs.

Voluntary alignment could soon go much further. There are 5 new EU measures to modernise its product safety regime, which could all be mirrored under the UK ‘Product Regulation and Metrology Bill' – designed to avoid becoming a regulatory laggard in this area.

Trend 2: ‘voluntary’ alignment: where the UK unilaterally mirrors EU rules (no agreement with the EU) to minimise unwanted divergence.

For example, the gov has instructed the CMA to ensure ‘parallel’ action to the EU when investigating digital market issues.

This is the most politically and economically significant type of alignment. It breaks the great post-Brexit taboo about the UK becoming a ‘rule taker’ in exchange for better EU trade, and could give a tangible boost to UK GDP.