Yesterday, IEEP UK hosted its annual Spring Parliamentary Reception in the House of Commons. A cornerstone event of IEEP’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the event brought together guests from across the environmental sector at a crucial moment in the political calendar on the day of the King’s Speech – in which UK-EU relations featured prominently – and shortly before the next high-level UK-EU Reset Summit.
The event was opened by IEEP UK Chair Malini Mehra, who paid tribute to IEEP’s longevity in advising generations of environmental experts and policymakers since the very beginning of European environmental legislation. Highlighting IEEP’s plethora of achievements over the last 50 years, Malini noted that IEEP’s work has been instrumental in informing core environmental principles and has influenced key environmental laws in the EU and within its member states.
Toby Perkins MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, who hosted the reception, referenced IEEP UK’s 2025 Divergence State of Play report in highlighting that the UK has fallen behind the EU in many areas of environmental policy since Brexit, threatening UK industry and competitiveness. Toby spoke in depth on the EAC’s recent inquiry into regulating PFAS or ‘forever’ chemicals, which cited IEEP UK evidence, and noted how regulatory divergence between UK and EU REACH has left UK citizens facing greater exposure to PFAS than in the EU. Mr Perkins also called for the UK government to seize the opportunities provided by the new European Partnership Bill and the upcoming UK-EU Reset talks to work with the EU on chemicals and deforestation, raising standards where the UK has fallen behind, retaining our higher standards in some areas, and aligning for better and easier trade.
Isabell Poppelbaum, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the UK spoke about the importance of the EU-UK relations for European resilience, noting that last year’s UK-EU Reset Summit launched a new, more practical and strategic phase in the relationship between the two which produces improved outcomes for citizens and businesses on both sides of the channel. Isabell welcomed the UK’s renewed participation in Horizon Europe since 2024, underlining that good environmental policy depends on evidence, expertise and collaboration, underpinned by scientific and technical cooperation through organisations such as the European Environment Agency.
While Emma Bourne OBE, Director General for EU Reset and Trade at Defra could not attend the event due to last minute ministerial commitments, her speech was read by Defra colleagues James Quitmann, Head of EU Strategy and Relations and Thomas Thornton-Kemsley, Head of UK-EU Environmental Strategy and Cooperation. The speech highlighted Defra’s increasing focus on the opportunity to deepen practical cooperation with the EU in areas where closer alignment delivers mutual benefits, including through concluding an SPS agreement, linking emissions trading schemes, or discussions on future electricity trading arrangements. Defra colleagues stated the importance of the UK-EU summit this summer for delivering tangible environmental benefits alongside economic and business ones. They highlighted that Defra wants environmental standards to be seen not as a drag on growth, but as a foundation for it.
Ben Reynolds, IEEP UK’s Executive Director, used his speech to flag some of IEEP’s key achievements over the years that are most pertinent to UK and EU relations today, including the organisation’s work on the emissions trading scheme in the late 1990s, the precautionary principle, and the better regulation drive. Ben highlighted the long and entwined history of UK and EU environmental policy, with the environment’s prominence across various areas of the EU-UK Reset discussions evidence of how far integration has developed, but that the environment deserves to be a key pillar of future Reset discussions, and part of the European Partnership Bill, in its own right.
The photos of the event below are courtesy of Jonathan Goldberg. For more photos, see here.
