Download Briefing Paper 47 Briefing Paper 47 – September 2020 Emily Lydgate and Chloe Anthony Key Points Introduction Setting out a clear strategy Core legislation does not integrate trade-related emissions into the climate target UK Free Trade Agreements diverge in approach and ambition Acting on areas of ‘mutual supportiveness’ Fossil fuel subsidies are non-transparent A positive step for policy coherence: liberalisation of environmental goods Addressing areas of potential conflict Climate change mitigation subsidies in the global context Current UK climate change mitigation subsidies are not ambitious or transparent enough UK carbon pricing is still not high or consistent enough to meet the net-zero target Conclusion Key points To become a world leader in trade and climate policy the UK needs to develop an integrated strategy that enhances areas of mutual supportiveness and addresses areas of potential conflict. Enhancing mutual supportiveness: UK climate legislation does not currently include trade-related emissions. Factoring in aviation and shipping would help to address this problem. The UK’s approach to integrating climate into its new free trade agreements (FTAs), as well as its ‘continuity agreements’ with former EU FTA trade partners, is inconsistent. Notably, continuity agreements are a lost opportunity to update existing trade [...]

Download Briefing Paper 38 Briefing Paper 38 – December 2019 Emily Lydgate, Chloe Anthony, Erik Millstone Key Points Introduction The current state of affairs What will replace the EU and allow for a UK ‘Single Market’? The UK’s alternative futures Policy recommendations Footnotes Key points: A UK-US trade agreement would likely require changes to UK domestic legislation in very sensitive areas, including drug pricing and food safety regulation, which Scotland, with its large Remain-voting majority and stated desire to maintain alignment with EU regulation, would strenuously oppose. Leaving the EU creates a legal and policy vacuum regarding the relationship between devolved nations, and the extent to which they can influence UK trade negotiations. By not taking Scotland’s interests sufficiently into consideration, the UK risks fuelling the Scottish independence movement and/or introducing internal trade barriers between England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland will be subject to separate arrangements anyway). The UK Government may be forced to choose between facilitating trade with the US or holding on to the UK’s fragile national identity. The destruction of the UK internal market – and potentially the Union itself – seems too high a price to pay for a US Free Trade Agreement. [...]

Download Briefing Paper 37 Briefing Paper 37 – November 2019 Emily Lydgate, Chloe Anthony and Erik Millstone Key Points Introduction Preparing UK Food Safety Legislation For Brexit Deep Regulatory Reform, Not a Technical Exercise Will The UK Agricultural and Food Safety and Standards Legislation be Functionally Equivalent to That of The EU? Pesticide Approvals and Maximum Residue Levels in Food and Feed GMO Authorisations and Labelling Food Additive Authorisations and Monitoring Micro-Biological Food Safety Trade Implications Conclusions Recommendations Footnotes Key points The Government’s approach, as set out in the EU Withdrawal Act (2018), is to transfer EU law into UK law and address any ‘deficiencies’ in that law (such as references to EU institutions) by secondary legislation. This has resulted in a large body of new food safety legislation that replaces EU legislative processes and institutions with those of the UK. Detaching UK food safety regulation from EU bodies, while maintaining agricultural and food systems that are no less harmful to the environment and public health, is a challenging task. This is because the UK must develop capacities, competencies and procedures that have not been required or available domestically for many years. It is thus implausible to suggest, [...]

Briefing Paper 34 Download Briefing Paper 34 Peter Holmes, J. Brad Jensen, Emily Lydgate, Stephen Weymouth, Rorden Wilkinson, and L. Alan Winters Key points Introduction Brexit uncertainty The backstop and the issue of running two standards books Is a deal even possible? US negotiating guidelines What does USMCA foreshadow for a future US-UK trade agreement? What is the US’ likely strategic position on services? The changing market for US MNC foreign affiliate spending Conclusion Footnotes Key points Given the current political turmoil in the UK, a quick and economically significant outcome to US-UK trade negotiations seems unlikely. A great deal depends on the degree of alignment that the UK keeps with the EU on tariffs and regulations. Despite the current aggression towards the European Union, it is far from inevitable that the UK will cut its ties significantly. Aligning UK rules with those of the US, as per the US negotiating objectives, would create divergences with the EU and inevitably create extra frictions at the UK-EU border. The so-called Level Playing Field requirements, as set out in the backstop of the Withdrawal Agreement, constrain a potential UK-US agreement. The renegotiation of NAFTA into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement provides several insights [...]