UK-EU reset: Good start but still much to do, say Peers

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has published the first overall assessment by a parliamentary committee of the Government's progress in resetting the UK's relationship with the European Union and strengthening bilateral ties with key European countries, fulfilling a commitment in its 2024 election manifesto.     

In its report Unfinished Business: Resetting the UK-EU relationship the Committee, chaired by Lord Ricketts, concludes that the Government has taken the first important steps in implementing its reset policy. The May 2025 UK-EU summit agreed a Security and Defence Partnership and opened the way to negotiations in a number of areas of economic cooperation. But the Committee notes that the reset is a process not an event, and that much remains to be done to achieve the Government's objective of reaching agreements to enhance European security and foster economic growth. The Committee asks for more clarity on the Government's negotiating objectives, the timetable for concluding them, and how it plans to ensure that Parliament can play its full scrutiny role.    

Lord Ricketts, Chair of the European Affairs Committee, said:    

“The Government has made a strong start in resetting the UK's relationship with the EU. But there is still much to be done to turn aspirations into workable agreements of benefit to Britain's security and economic growth.     

“The May 2025 UK-EU summit was the first major milestone setting out an ambitious direction of travel. We welcome the Security and Defence Partnership at a time of growing threats to European security. It will now be crucial that the negotiations under way on UK participation in the EU's defence investment programme (SAFE) provide clear strategic benefits for the UK's defence industry.      

“The May summit also set the objective of a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, to reduce checks on trade in animal and plant products, and a link between the UK and EU Emissions Trading Schemes. But there is a lack of clarity on how these schemes will work, when they will be achieved and the arrangements for parliamentary scrutiny of their impact on the UK economy.   

“There has been less progress on the Government's other objectives, of further law enforcement cooperation, help for touring artists, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications. On the other hand, negotiations are under way with the EU on two programmes which will benefit young people: a youth experience scheme and UK association to the Erasmus+ programme.”   

Key conclusions and recommendations include: 

• The Government's reset of relations with the EU is a process not a single event or a summit, and there is no clarity about the endpoint.   

• The Committee welcomes the Security and Defence Partnership signed between the UK and the EU in May 2025, recognising the continental security and defence challenges facing the UK and EU and providing a framework for pragmatic partnership cooperation. The UK's potential participation in projects under the EU's SAFE programme is one of the key aspects of the UK-EU Security and Defence Partnership. It is critical to ensure that the prospective agreement on UK participation in SAFE provides clear strategic benefits for the UK's defence ecosystem.  

• The Committee notes that, in most cases, the Security and Defence Partnership expresses an ambition to enhance existing mechanisms of cooperation, or to explore possible future opportunities. At this early stage it is perhaps inevitable that the Partnership has so far amounted only to a set of aspirations, but its success will be measured by the degree to which it improves the overall defence and security of Europe.    

• The Committee regrets that the Government did not produce a White Paper or similar paper on its objectives for its reset of UK relations with the EU and with individual countries, as this would have made it possible for Parliament and other stakeholders to engage more effectively with the Government on the policy, and to scrutinise more fully the extent to which it met its objectives.  

• The Committee welcomes the fact that negotiations are underway with the EU on the UK's association to Erasmus+ and that the Government is thus making progress on this issue.  

• Overall, the Government has made progress in achieving its reset objectives. It has negotiated a security pact with the EU. It has also secured the EU's agreement to "work towards" its objectives of a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, and an agreement to link the UK and EU Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS). However, there has been little, if any, progress on the Government's other objectives, of further law enforcement cooperation, help for touring artists, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications.  

• The planned new UK-EU agreements on a common SPS area and ETS linkage mean that UK dynamic alignment with EU law is now in prospect. This will have significant implications for Parliament. The Committee looks forward to engaging with the Government on this matter in coming months. It asks the Government to set out how it envisages that a scrutiny system for dynamic alignment would work and how it plans to ensure that Parliament can play a full scrutiny role in this new area of activity.