Call for Evidence

The Government has announced that it is seeking a reset of the UK’s relations with the EU—covering security and defence, in order to “address common threats and challenges”; and trade, in order to “break down barriers”.

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee is launching an inquiry into the reset. The inquiry will have two main themes: 

• the substance of the reset as it has emerged so far (involving questions about what the reset is or should be); and
• the process for achieving the objectives of the reset (involving questions about how the Government pursues it with the EU, and the role of devolved administrations and other interested parties in the UK).

The Committee invites interested individuals and organisations to submit written evidence to the inquiry by 9.00am on 2 April 2025. Public evidence sessions are expected to take place from late January 2025, and the Committee aims to report to the House later in the year.

Background

The UK-EU relationship is governed by the Withdrawal Agreement, which entered into force when the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which has been in effect since 1 January 2021. The TCA is fundamentally a free trade agreement under which UK-EU goods trade is largely free of tariffs and quotas. It covers some aspects of trade in services but not others. It includes provisions for an overarching governance arrangement and for UK-EU cooperation in some areas, notably law enforcement. It does not include provision for cooperation on foreign and security policy.

The new Government elected in July 2024 has announced that it seeks a reset of the UK’s relationship with the EU. It seeks closer cooperation, and specifically new agreements with the EU in two broad areas in particular: security and defence; and trade. The Government has made clear that the UK will not rejoin the EU Single Market or the Customs Union, nor participate in EU freedom of movement of people.

In pursuit of the reset, the Government has already deepened engagement with the EU. The two sides have agreed that there should be regular UK-EU summits—with the first expected in the first half of 2025—and a six-monthly ‘strategic dialogue’ on foreign policy. The Government has also made machinery-of-government changes in Whitehall for the handling of EU affairs, moving departmental responsibility for EU relations from the FCDO to the Cabinet Office and appointing a Minister there with responsibility for the EU relationship.

At the same time as the Government seeks new discretionary negotiations with the EU, two sets of provisions in the TCA—on energy and fisheries—are due to expire in June 2026, and the two sides are also due to conduct a review of the TCA as a whole before the fifth anniversary of its coming-into-force. In addition, the EU consistently stresses the importance it attaches to full UK implementation of the two main existing UK-EU agreements.

The reset promises to be a complex process, involving negotiations with the EU across multiple policy areas. Neither side has yet defined its objectives in detail. The policies of the new US Administration will also be an important part of the context in which the reset negotiations take place. The Committee’s inquiry will scrutinise the Government’s policy against this changing political landscape.

The European Affairs Committee and its predecessor European Union Committee have conducted extensive detailed inquiries into the nature of the post-Brexit UK-EU relationship under the TCA, producing reports on the institutional framework (2021), trade in goods (2021), trade in services (2021), food, environment, energy and health (2021), policing, law enforcement and security (2021), financial services (2022), the future relationship as a whole (2023), and foreign and security policy cooperation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (2024).

Contributing evidence 

The Committee encourages anyone with expertise in or experience of the matters under consideration in its inquiry, whether from the UK or abroad, to submit written evidence.

Diversity comes in many forms, and hearing a range of different perspectives means that committees are better informed and can more effectively scrutinise public policy and legislation. Committees can undertake their role most effectively when they hear from a wide range of individuals, sectors or groups in society affected by a particular policy or piece of legislation. We encourage anyone with experience or expertise of an issue under investigation by a Select Committee to share their views with the Committee, with the full knowledge that their views have value and are welcome.

If you wish to contribute your experience and expertise to this inquiry, please respond to the questions below. There is no obligation to answer every question, or address every topic. If there are developments that mean you would like to add to your initial submission you may make a supplementary submission.

Questions

The substance of the reset

1. What should the reset seek to achieve in order to serve the British national interest? What would a successful reset of UK-EU relations look like?

a) What is your assessment of the Government’s aims and approach to the reset? Is the Government being too ambitious, or not ambitious enough?

b) Should the Government have any ‘red lines’ for the UK-EU reset?

c) To what extent are the EU’s existing arrangements for cooperating with non Member States an obstacle to the reset? Should the Government seek to negotiate new forms of cooperation in some areas?

2. What impact are the priorities and domestic politics of individual EU Member States likely to have on the UK-EU reset?

3. How are the policies of the new US Administration likely to affect the UK-EU reset?

4. What should be the scope and priorities for the UK-EU security pact that the Government is seeking?

5. In the area of trade and mobility of people, the Government has identified three priorities for negotiation with the EU: a veterinary/SPS agreement; mutual recognition of professional qualifications (MRPQs); and easier access for UK touring artists in the EU. Are these the right priorities? Are they achievable? Are there other sectors which the Government should be including in the reset—for example, in the field of financial services?

6. In trade, what is—or could be—the relationship between the UK-EU reset and the UK’s current or potential relationships beyond Europe?

7. As part of its reset plans, how should the Government deal with the expiry in 2026 of TCA provisions on fisheries and energy?

The reset process

8. In the context of the overall reset, how should the Government approach the scheduled review of the TCA?

9. As it pursues its reset objectives, how can the Government influence the EU most effectively—including through the role of bilateral relations with European countries and the UK’s position in other European multilateral organisations?

10. As it pursues the reset, are there lessons that the Government could usefully learn from other non-EU countries—such as Switzerland, Norway or Canada?

11. Will the UK’s new machinery-of-government arrangements enable the Government to be as effective as possible in its engagement with the EU? If not, what further modifications would you advise?

12. How can the Government most effectively engage with and inform the devolved Administrations and legislatures, the public, parliamentarians and business and other domestic stakeholders with respect to the reset process? Are there lessons that the Government could learn from the UK’s negotiation of post-Brexit trade agreements with partners other than the EU?

13. Is it necessary or desirable for the results of any UK-EU reset to take legally binding form? If so, what legal form should be taken by any new UK-EU agreements, and what would be the implications for parliamentary scrutiny?