The Political Quarterly: Key issues in the negotiations about Britain’s membership of the EU

In the run-up to the EU referendum in the United Kingdom on the 23 June 2016, the LSE arranged a series of expert hearings within its own Commission on the Future of Britain in Europe. The first four hearings dealt with important policy issues : migration, employment regulation, financial integration and, finally, higher education and research.

A new series of articles in The Political Quarterly in 2016 draws on these discussions that took place between November 2015 and January 2016. The authors were the conveners of the panels and have research interests in these areas.

+ Research and Higher Education: UK as International Star and Closet European? by Anne Corbett

+ Buying into Myths: Free Movement of People and Immigration by Eiko Thielemann and Daniel Schade

+ Financial Centre and Monetary Outsider: How Precarious is the UK’s Position in the EU? by Waltraud Schelkle

+ A Bonfire of the Regulations, Or Business as Usual? The UK Labour Market and the Political Economy of Brexit by Steve Coulter and Bob Hancké.

In her introduction to the series, Waltraud Schelkle, writes that these articles suggest that the political dynamic of the negotiations has been favourable for the Leave campaign because anybody promising ‘a new settlement’ for the UK in a reformed EU runs into an inevitable dilemma. The claim that a new settlement is needed suggests that there has been a failure to defend UK interests effectively in the past. But this claim both reflects adversely on the potential achievements of the government now, which has after all been in power previously while major reforms occurred, and understates the ongoing effectiveness of the UK in the EU’s regular decision-making processes.

The UK civil service has a good record for signalling red lines and fighting competently for its priorities. The UK has been rather successful in a number of areas. This simply has not left many wishes unfulfilled, except in exceptionally hard policy areas, like deterrence of immigrants, to which no civilized and law-abiding government has found humane solutions. The modest achievements of the present negotiations reflect exactly this state of affairs. David Cameron’s campaign to stay in the EU may thus fall victim to the UK’s past successes.

• Primary Source

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

ESO: Background information: European Council, Brussels 18-19 February 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-council-brussels-18-19-february-2016/

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