UK PM Rishi Sunak drafting plans to rebuild ties with the EU

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has privately asked senior ministers and officials to draw up plans for rebuilding the UK's relations with the European Union after years of acrimony since Brexit.

Driven in part by the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, senior civil servants have been drafting proposals for how Britain can work more closely with EU nations across a range of policy areas. The work focuses on defense, migration, and so-called economic statecraft which includes issues such as trade, energy and international standards.

Sunak's pivot toward the EU was described by ministers, diplomats and officials who asked not to be named discussing unpublished plans. UK officials are hoping that in the coming days they will be able to announce a solution to the years-long dispute with the EU over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. And Sunak's team are looking to use that breakthrough as the foundation for a more comprehensive improvement in ties with the bloc.


To pull that off, however, the 42-year-old prime minister faces a delicate balancing to keep the ardent Brexiteers in his party in check and to coax their allies in the Democratic Unionist Party into lifting their veto on devolved government in Northern Ireland.

Even if he can do that, he'll face the skepticism of European leaders who've been trying to do business with the UK for the past seven years as the country bounced through five different prime ministers who often treated the EU as a punch bag for their domestic audience.

The UK is also soon to unveil legislation on migration that could bring it into conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The change in the UK's strategy toward Europe was not an admission that Brexit had been a failure, a government official insisted.