The government is yet to say exactly which sectors it would prioritize, however — and Starmer has said he wants the U.K.-EU relationship to be “iterative” with new cooperation added on an annual basis at regular summits.
Scrutiny
The new report also calls for the re-establishment of a dedicated European Scrutiny Committee in the House of Commons, to oversee the Brexit reset and Britain’s wider relationship with the continent.
A version of the specialized EU affairs committee had existed since 1972, but it was disestablished by Starmer’s new government in 2024 — with responsibility for the topic passing to Thornberry’s Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as a group of unelected lawmakers in the House of Lords.
Thornberry told POLITICO: “The truth is that there are only 11 of us … we had, at one stage, ten reports open, which sounds ridiculous, but then you think about the state of the world, and you think, well, yeah, of course.
“We haven’t properly done a study into China yet. And how can we not have done an inquiry into China? The reason is because you just can’t do everything, although we are trying. So I think in order to give our developing relationship with the European Union the scrutiny that it definitely deserves, we do think that there needs to be another team working on it.”
A U.K. government spokesperson said: “Our priorities are clear: working in the national interest to deliver a strategic shift in our relationship with the EU through improved diplomatic, economic, and security cooperation.
“This includes securing a landmark food and drink trade deal and the carbon linking agreement by the next UK-EU Summit that will add £9 billion a year to the UK economy.
“We are stripping away the costly bureaucracy and red tape that acts as a drag on growth, backing British jobs and putting more money in people’s pockets across the country.”