With the 23rd June marking a decade since the Brexit referendum, IEEP UK’s research and insights have featured in various pieces of media coverage marking the anniversary. Ben Reynolds, IEEP UK’s Executive Director, was quoted in an article in the Financial Times last week examining the impact of Brexit upon the UK’s environmental laws. Ben focused on the potential environmental advantages of the recent reset in UK-EU relations under the Starmer government, remarking that “EU alignment would certainly raise the bar in a number of areas, such as circular economy and waste standards and chemicals”.

Ben also highlighted the findings of IEEP UK’s Divergence in UK/EU environmental policy: state of play report, including that the UK does not generally have weaker laws in place than when it left the EU, but has mainly ‘diverged by default’ as the EU has brought new, more stringent regulations into place. However, he warns that the spectre of regression hangs heavy, using the Planning and Infrastructure Act’s undermining of well-established nature protection laws as a key example.

Ben also featured on ENDS Report’s ECO Chamber podcast in an episode entitled ‘Brexit 10 years on: is the UK still the dirty man of Europe?’, alongside IEEP UK Trustee Dr Viviane Gravey, released last week, which further explored the development of UK environmental policy since its exit from the EU. ENDS has also featured IEEP UK insights in a related article on how Brexit chaos has reshaped UK and EU green policy for good [paywalled].

You can listen to the ECO Chamber podcast episode in full here, or by using the Spotify player below.