Ministers must “get off the fence and give leadership” on UK-EU future, says BTC

• Government's EU reset unlikely to address core issues identified by Committee  
• Slow progress on the few substantive agreements reached and concerns on rhetoric-reality gap
• UK late to negotiations on energy trading even as it deals with highest electricity prices in the G7 
• Crucial Security and Defence Partnership looks like little more than political signalling 

10 years on from the Brexit vote and thirteen months after its first report into the UK's EU reset, the Committee finds that the initial stakeholder welcome for the Reset's ambition has been hit by concerns about delivery.  

• Of the most substantive agreements the UK has reached with the EU to date, on steel, fisheries and energy: the fisheries agreement was not universally welcomed and positive progress on steel tariffs risks being undermined without an agreement in talks ongoing since November last year.
• The UK's association to the Erasmus+ student exchange programme cost £570 million for the 2027/2028 academic year but the jury is out on its impact.  
• None of the three wider UK ambitions in the Common Understanding - help for touring artists, improved business mobility and an agreement on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications - have materially advanced. 
• It is unclear what the Security and Defence Partnership has delivered beyond political signalling. 

The Committee has heard five key concerns about the Government's current approach: 

1. The rhetoric-reality gap': Government ministers have not pulled their punches about the negative economic impact of Brexit, but delivery of the current Reset is expected to add just 0.5% to the UK's GDP by 2040, even in an optimistic scenario. 
2. Limited progress in the critical area of defence and defence industrial policy, despite war raging on the European continent and the clear change of US approach to NATO. 
3. Late negotiations for a deal on electricity trading even as the UK battles the highest electricity prices in the G7. 
4. European partners still in the dark about the UK's end goals with no clear strategy beyond the 2026 summit, and no clear strategic case for the Reset. 
5. Continued disagreement on dynamic alignment with EU regulations. 

The Committee concludes it is unlikely that the Government's approach in the current round of negotiations will address these concerns and sets out the basic models for deepening ties - alongside the trade-offs entailed. 

Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the Committee, said:   Ministers have been frank about the economic damage Brexit has caused, but there is now a yawning gap between their rhetoric and the reality of what the Reset is actually delivering.  

Business cannot invest on political signalling alone. It needs clear rules, a clear destination and a credible vision. Ministers must now get off the fence, set out where they want Britain's relationship with Europe to be by the end of this Parliament, and provide the roadmap to restore confidence, strengthen our security and deliver the growth the country needs.

Crucially, we need to understand that ten years after the Brexit referendum, Europe is changing fast. Russia's war against Ukraine continues, hybrid attacks are escalating across everywhere and the United States has made clear that European NATO allies must do more to provide for their own security. Yet our inquiry found limited progress on UK-EU defence cooperation. 

At a moment when Europe should be strengthening its industrial and security partnerships, it is especially disappointing that the UK has yet to secure participation in the EU's SAFE defence procurement programme, never mind set out an ambitious strategy for defence and economic security alliance.