UK- EU

Brexit and Scotland

21 December 2016 Alasdair Smith is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex, and is a member of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. In ‘Scotland’s place in Europe’, published on 20 December, the Scottish Government affirms its wish that the whole UK should remain in the European single market and the EU customs union. If, however, the UK leaves the customs union and is ejected from the single market, the Scottish government wants Scotland to remain in the single market. Commentators, by no means all of them instinctively unsympathetic to the Scottish Government’s case, have noted that the creation of a regulatory border between England and Scotland could be problematic. But the problems would not all be on the Scottish side. […]

By Alasdair Smith|2025-07-18T14:48:11+01:0021 December 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

ETSexit? UK would be unwise to leave EU emissions market

16 December 2016 The United Kingdom may opt to leave the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for greenhouse gases. If so, a central plank of UK climate policy will need to be replaced at short notice. The UK is a large importer of emission permits, and meeting its climate policy targets would be much harder and dearer without the EU ETS. The impact on the EU would be limited, although UK permits circulating in the rest of the EU would lose their legal standing between Brexit and 2021. Non-EU countries take part in the EU ETS, and this appears to be the best option for the UK post-Brexit. Richard Tol is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex. […]

By Nick Phipps|2016-12-20T10:44:34+00:0020 December 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

The curious absence of services trade

14 December 2016 With exports of services worth £220 billion to the UK economy, we need to make sure that Brexit discussions don’t ignore this vital component of the UK’s trading environment. Dr Ingo Borchert is Lecturer in Economics and a fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. […]

By Ingo Borchert|2025-07-18T14:50:54+01:0014 December 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

A special deal for the car industry: how could it work?

16 November 2016 At the end of last month, Nissan confirmed a major investment in its Sunderland site following support and assurances from Teresa May. This news was received with much speculation as to what the “support and assurances” of the British government could be. Whilst the details are yet to emerge from Number 10, Dr Peter Holmes reveals different options of what a special post-Brexit deal for Nissan, and the car industry generally, could be. […]

By Peter Holmes|2025-07-18T14:52:04+01:0016 November 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

Negotiating the UK’s post-Brexit trade arrangements

7 November 2016 L. Alan Winters, Professor of Economics and Director of UKTPO. The ideal trading partner is rich, large, similar and next door. For the UK this means the EU, and for the UK government, this means trade negotiations with our European neighbours must take priority. In my recent article for the NIESR November Review, I explore the reasons why negotiating the UK’s future trade arrangements is a massive job. These are the main points I raise. […]

By L. Alan Winters|2025-07-18T14:53:11+01:007 November 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

A Brexit reality check in Stockholm

19 October 2016 L. Alan Winters is Professor of Economics and Director of the UKTPO Rule 1 for negotiation: work out what you want and how much you can pay for it. Rule 2: try to understand where the other side is coming from and how they feel. The muted mood this week among trade specialists in Sweden, one of the UK’s closest allies in the EU, should serve as a reality check ahead of Brexit negotiations. If we want to make Brexit work, we need to take their views seriously. […]

By L. Alan Winters|2025-07-18T14:54:00+01:0019 October 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

Brexit and the regions: a lighter shade of dark

14 October 2016 L. Alan Winters is Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex, and director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. Nick Jacob is an associate tutor and research student in economics – also at the University of Sussex. Few doubt that Brexit poses some immense challenges for the British economy. But for a government that professes to want an economy that ‘works for everyone’, there is possibly one encouraging factor: Brexit seems likely to help re-balance the economy. This note asks what Brexit implies for different parts of the UK and suggests two reasons why regions outside London and the South East could be less severely challenged. […]

By L. Alan Winters|2025-07-18T14:54:30+01:0014 October 2016|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Brexit, banks and bother

12 October 2016 Guest blog by Phil Molyneux, Dean of the College of Business, Law, Education and Social Sciences and Professor of Banking and Finance at Bangor University. It’s not looking good in the City or anywhere within the UK financial services sector. The sector contributed £66 billion in tax revenues to the UK Exchequer in 2015 – around 11% of total income – so this is potentially a concern for all of us. […]

By Nick Phipps|2016-10-12T13:20:00+01:0012 October 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

Brexit: the lawyer’s first 100 days

30 September 2016 Erika Szyszczak is Professor of Law in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex, and a member of UKTPO. The “first 100 days” has become a standard by which to evaluate important political times. Undoubtedly, the momentous decision on 23 June 2016 to break up the current geopolitical space of Europe will be examined by historians as a decisive period of modern European history. From a lawyer’s perspective the most striking feature of the last 100 days has been the legal uncertainty of how to implement the referendum result. This represents the challenge we love. So this blog examines some of these uncertainties. […]

By Erika Szyszczak|2025-07-18T14:55:40+01:0030 September 2016|UK- EU|0 Comments

What does an inclusive UK trade policy look like?

5 September 2016 In the face of severe and competing pressures, a UK trade policy that ‘works for everyone’ – to use Prime Minister Theresa May’s phrase – is going to be immensely difficult to achieve, writes Steve McGuire. The legal and political obstacles to the UK’s construction of an independent international trade policy have been well documented. The legal complexities are eye-watering; as my UKTPO colleague Emily Lydgate points out, the relationship between Article 50 and UK trade policy is unclear. Nor does the UK government have enough expertise in the negotiation and implementation of trade rules. […]

By Nick Phipps|2016-09-05T13:14:33+01:005 September 2016|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Our home