A Well Earned(?) Break From Brexit

If you read last month’s Policy & Trade Updateyou might remember that I compared the Brexit process of recent months to the classic 1993 movie Groundhog Day. Well despite my apparent certainty that Britain wouldleave on 12 April, the Brexit deadline has been extended yet againto 31 October. So if you missed the excitement the first time around, there will be re-runs long into the year for you to enjoy.

All in all, not much has changed. After the extension announcement, Theresa May tweeted:” The choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear. “I for one am glad that just 762 days after article 50 was triggered, we have finally got the timetable nailed down, that’s the hard part out of the way. Needless to say, after hearing news that Brexit wouldn’t be happening until October, MPs breathed a sigh of relief and shot straight back into action… packing their bags for a 12-day Easter Holiday.

One bit of ‘good’ news that came out of April is that the PM and the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, have been sitting down to try and reach a compromise on what sort of a deal with the EU they would both be willing to support, something BAB has long-called for. How did the meetings go? Well, initially the talks seemed to be heading in a positive trajectory, described as “constructive,” and “useful but inconclusive,” with a No.10 Spokesperson even saying that both sides were “showing flexibility. ” Of course, just 3 weeks later, the talks have “collapsed” with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress. Again, ‘not much has changed.’

April also saw the official announcement of President Donald Trump’s second official visit to the UK since taking office. Not a lot is known about the President’s visit other than there will be a traditional state banquet at Buckingham Palace, and he will participate in the D-Day75 commemorations in Portsmouth, but Theresa May has called the visit achance for the US and UK “to strengthen our already close relationship” and we at BAB of course welcome this opportunity.

So it seems, at least thus far, that Donald Tusk’s plea of ” Please don’t waste this time” has fallen of deaf ears, and Britain remains stalwart in its desire to reject foreign bureaucrats telling it what to do. This is despite of course every major party (bar the Tories at the time of writing this) fielding candidates in the upcoming European Elections. My advice is if you’re looking for a summer job, apply to Tesco.

I’ll sign off with some words from our CEO Duncan Edwards, written at the start of the year which I think summarises the situation well:” Welcome back, nothing’s changed!”

April has been a busy month for BAB. We launched an exciting new publication, Time To Listen, which took the conversation surrounding the ‘special relationship’ out of the groaning halls of Westminster, and put it in the hands of university students across the UK to get their perspective on what transatlantic relations mean to them. We also had the pleasure of welcoming representatives from the United States International Trade Commission, and accompanying them on a UK-wide tour to discuss how we can strengthen the UK-US trade & investment relationship, with insight from US companies operating around Great Britain & Northern Ireland.

This was all in addition to more of our great policy & trade work, which saw us hold a series of roundtable discussions with everyone from Congressmen to SMEs on everything from US-expat tax reform to the future of global financial services regulation, welcomed delegations from Arizona and Pennsylvania alongside members American Airlines & British Airways, and even welcomed a new Chair to our International Advisory Board. Check out the details below.

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Read the full Policy Update here