The UK’s reset with Europe - A tale of diverging priorities

By Ben Rosenbaum. Read: 4 min 50 s

The new British government promised a “reset” with the European Union, but questions remain over how exactly this will play out, with different visions for cooperation on both sides.

On 4 July 2024, the British Labour Party won a landslide victory in the general election, ending 14 years of  Conservative Party rule. The new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, had pledged as part of his party’s manifesto a reset in relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union based on removing barriers to trade, but made it clear that Labour  was not seeking to rejoin the EU. Debating a re-entry into the EU would bring “turmoil”, Keir Starmer said after taking office.

Flashback to 2016: The United Kingdom voted by a narrow margin of 59.1% to 48.1% to leave the European Union in a referendum, prompting years of political chaos in parliament and difficult negotiations with the EU. After Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron resigned in the turbulent wake of the referendum result, the responsibility for presenting a withdrawal agreement to the British Parliament fell to his successor, Theresa May. However, getting Parliament to agree to a deal was difficult, as competing visions existed across the political spectrum regarding what Brexit should look like. Ultimately, May failed several times to get a majority of MPs to agree to the terms she negotiated with European leaders, as supporters of a more radical Brexit and more remain-leaning opposition parties were united in their rejection. Keir Starmer was then Labour’s shadow Brexit Secretary and advocated for a second referendum, a debate that also exposed divisions within the Labour Party over whether to accept the outcome of the first referendum and agree to a Withdrawal Agreement or to push for a second referendum in the hope of avoiding Brexit altogether.

After the 2019 general election, called by May’s successor Boris Johnson, brought an increased majority for the Conservative Party and a historic defeat for Labour, a Withdrawal Agreement was voted through by Parliament with little opposition support, and the United Kingdom officially left the EU in January 2020. In the intervening years, with the pandemic and multiple controversies in the Conservative Party that led to the resignations of Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Brexit’s centrality waned in the political debate, especially in statements by the Labour and Conservative parties. Truss’ successor Rishi Sunak negotiated the Windsor Framework with the EU, bringing a more stable settlement for Northern Ireland (which had been one of the most contentious points during the Brexit negotiations) and raised hopes for an improved working relationship between Brussels and London. 

However, despite polling that suggests the support among UK citizens for rejoining the EU now outweighs those who support staying out, the new Labour government has been cautious in its approach to the EU. Starmer has stated that his priorities in talks with EU leaders would be trade, education, research and development, as well as defence and security. This was further demonstrated by the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, calling for closer cooperation with the EU on defence and energy. In pursuit of this, the UK has already signed a defence contract with Germany, signalling closer cooperation.The new Conservative Leader, Kemi Badenoch, warned before the election that a Labour government would try to reverse Brexit. Thus, the right is already exerting domestic pressure on Labour  not to move too close to Europe.

But pressure is also emerging from the other side. In August, EU insiders called for the UK to first apply all relevant agreements with the EU before a reset could be discussed. Another point of disagreement is a proposed youth mobility scheme. In April 2024, the EU Commission proposed a plan to make it easier for young people aged 18-30 to travel between the UK and the EU for working, studying and training. This was rejected by both the Conservatives and the Labour party, then still in opposition. After coming to power, Starmer and his ministers reiterated their position that there would be “no return to free movement” (although the scheme proposed by the EU did not include free movement provisions). The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, appeared to reject any proposed scheme in order to keep migration figures low. However, it appears that for the EU leadership, any reset in relations must include a youth mobility scheme, and there has been talk of restricting the criteria for eligibility in order to convince the British government. 

However, there so far seems to have been little willingness by the British government to compromise on this issue. Some Labour party figures like Mayor of London Sadiq Khan have spoken out in favour of the scheme, but the leadership, especially the Home Secretary, so far appear steadfast in their opposition. Thus, the UK and the EU face each other with different priorities and objectives. Mixed with this is suspicion within the European leadership over the direction Britain will take, with some insiders likening the current time to the time after the Brexit referendum, when the UK’s future relationship with the EU was equally unclear. Therefore, there have been calls on the UK by the EU to set out concrete plans for its reset with the EU, and for the British government to demonstrate a “willingness to compromise”.

As Donald Trump has now won a second term as President of the United States, his policies may put further pressure on EU-UK relations, especially in regards to one of Starmer’s priorities, trade. If Trump decides to impose tariffs on goods imported from the EU, the British government may have to choose between maintaining free trade with the US or free trade with the EU. It remains to be seen how the change in leadership in the US will impact the UK’s position in regards to Europe and the EU, and if agreements like the Anglo-German defence treaty will be followed by further cooperative measures. So far, the change in Anglo-European relations has been in tone and attitude, not so much in plans and actions.