The Brexit threat to Britain’s defence industry

Background

Following the decision of the United Kingdom in the referendum of June 2016 to leave the European Union and the ensuing negotiations Britain claimed it still wanted to maintain a close security relationship with its European partners.

Other further related developments

+ the EU agreed on further steps towards European defence cooperation
+ French President's Macron's European Intervention Initiative.ECFR has enlisted a panel of four of the most experienced security figures from across Europe to identify ways for post-Brexit Britain to stay close to the EU on defence and security matters. As well as the strategic dimension they will also consider defence industry relations; and in this area recent developments in Europe have added a new dimension of complexity.

Britain’s departure from the EU will damage both parties – the UK especially, but the EU27 as well. So why not cut the Brits a special deal? Because the legal and political obstacles look, at first sight, insuperable. Yet unless ways can be found over or round them, the last major piece of the UK’s manufacturing industry may find itself progressively shut out of Europe and facing a bleak future.

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