Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab)]

My Lords, it was a pleasure to serve under the chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, who had a difficult task indeed. His choice of title is apposite, first, because resetting our relationship is a continual process, not a single act, so it is rightly unfinished business, but, secondly, because he had to preside over some unfinished disagreements as to whether Brexit was good or bad. A quick look at the committee’s membership—with the noble Lord, Lord Frost, and myself sitting side by side—rather describes the task that faced him, as he has referenced.

As a result, the report is perhaps a little more factual than prescriptive, and we were unable to fully welcome the Government’s move to rebuild trust and to boost trade with the EU and its advances over defence, Ukraine and the USA. Labour’s reset should be judged against the 2024 manifesto that sought to

“deepen ties with our European friends, neighbours and allies”,

and to make the UK

“a leading nation in Europe… with an improved… relationship with our European partners”

without crossing Labour’s red lines.

The May 2025 summit witnessed a new strategic partnership alongside an agenda for greater co-operation with the EU in relation to safety, security and economic prosperity. When we visited Brussels, we saw how the atmospherics had already changed. We were no longer hearing about “us” and “you”, but much more about “we”: about a common endeavour based on trust and a joint approach to work on major challenges. And challenges there are, with Ukraine, or rather Russia, being perhaps the greatest.

Besides that, however, we have the impulsive US presidency, especially its impact on the rules-based trading framework, which also necessitates a European response that goes beyond the EU, to encompass both us and the EEA, with our shared approach to the rule of law and respect for treaties. The security and defence partnership was significant in itself, but also for the potential for closer industrial and strategic working. It is disappointing that SAFE has not yet progressed; I hope that it may, and I endorse every word of the committee’s new chair, the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup. Security is also about organised crime, illegal migration, people trafficking and threats to our borders. We hope, therefore, for further intelligence and data sharing, and closer policing integration, as outlined by my noble friend Lady Ashton.

Much as I hated Brexit, I knew that we had to make it work via a closer, trusting and evolving relationship with the 27. The Government’s reset agenda, and their open and positive approach to the EU, form the right approach for a mutually beneficial relationship, as the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, the noble Duke, the Duke of Wellington, and others have stressed. Oddly, both Putin and Trump have made this more likely by forcing us to work together on Ukraine and in response to the USA’s new politics. I believe that we are in a better position with the EU than we were in July 2024, so we should welcome the start of this reset.