The Brexit EU-UK trade deal: A first analysis

Article

The UK and the EU deal on their future relationship, struck at the eleventh hour, is one of the most critical agreements the UK will negotiate in the post-Brexit era.

It comprises the basis of the future economic and security relationship with the UK's nearest trading partner, and for this reason, it is important that the deal comes under proper scrutiny.

This briefing, published shortly after the text of the agreement was released, offers a first attempt at assessing the deal and its implications.

It finds advantages of the deal over no deal at all, but also highlights some of the shortcomings compared even to the limited expectations in the run-up to the UK's departure from the EU. In particular it finds important implications for future UK policy on labour and environmental protections, as well as rules for state aid.

The deal leaves workers’ rights and environmental protections at serious risk of erosion, the analysis finds. This is because the new process agreed for safeguarding a “level playing field” between UK and EU businesses after Brexit sets such a high bar for proof that key elements are likely to be enforced only rarely.

Related items

  1. A busy bus full of people of all ages. An older couple smile at a younger woman with a baby in a pushchair

    Everyday concerns: What people want from transport

    Transport has a key role to play in achieving the UK government's missions and improving lives. 
  2. An unrecognisable woman playing a slot machine in a social club

    Reforming gambling taxation: How to lift half a million children out of poverty

    A key priority for the government’s upcoming child poverty strategy should be to remove the two-child limit and scrap the household benefit cap.
  3. A primary school classroom. In the foreground are pots of pencils and rulers and water bottles. Children in blue school uniform are blurred in the background

    The IPPR Inclusion Taskforce

    Our new inclusion taskforce will focus on reforming England's failing special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.