The Brexit threat to Britain’s defence industry

Background

Following the decision of the United Kingdom in the referendum of June 2016 to leave the European Union and the ensuing negotiations Britain claimed it still wanted to maintain a close security relationship with its European partners.

Other further related developments

+ the EU agreed on further steps towards European defence cooperation
+ French President's Macron's European Intervention Initiative.ECFR has enlisted a panel of four of the most experienced security figures from across Europe to identify ways for post-Brexit Britain to stay close to the EU on defence and security matters. As well as the strategic dimension they will also consider defence industry relations; and in this area recent developments in Europe have added a new dimension of complexity.

Britain’s departure from the EU will damage both parties – the UK especially, but the EU27 as well. So why not cut the Brits a special deal? Because the legal and political obstacles look, at first sight, insuperable. Yet unless ways can be found over or round them, the last major piece of the UK’s manufacturing industry may find itself progressively shut out of Europe and facing a bleak future.

• Primary Source

Carnegie Europe: Strategic Europe, 18.01.18: The Ambiguities of Franco-British Defense Cooperation (et al) http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-ambiguities-of-franco-british-defense-cooperation/

Carnegie Europe: Strategic Europe, 01.08.17: Toward a Post-Brexit Defense Partnership http://www.europeansources.info/record/toward-a-post-brexit-defense-partnership/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

IFG: Brexit Brief, December 2016: UK–EU defence and security cooperation https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/brexit/brexit-brief-uk-eu-defence-and-security-cooperation

National Institute Economic Review No.238, November 2016: The UK and EU foreign, security and defence policy after Brexit: integrated, associated or detached http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-uk-and-eu-foreign-security-and-defence-policy-after-brexit-integrated-associated-or-detached/

United Kingdom: House of Lords: Library: Library Note LLN 2016/51 (13.10.16): Leaving the European Union: Foreign and Security Policy Cooperation http://www.europeansources.info/record/leaving-the-european-union-foreign-and-security-policy-cooperation/

Defence Contracts Online: Brexit: The impact on the Defence industry https://www.contracts.mod.uk/do-features-and-articles/brexit-the-impact-on-the-defence-industry/

RAND Europe: Research: Projects: Defence and Security after Brexit https://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/defence-and-security-after-brexit.html

Defense News, 01.09.17: Brexit consequences raise doubts over future defense industrial collaboration https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2017/09/01/brexit-consequences-raise-doubts-over-future-defense-industrial-collaboration/

ARES: Report, No.19, August 2017: The Impact of Brexit on the European Armament Industry http://www.iris-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Ares-19-Brexit-25-August-2017-IRIS.pdf

UK: Parliament: House of Commons: Library: Briefing Paper, No.8310 (15.05.18): UK Defence Industry Exports http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8310/CBP-8310.pdf

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