What if Trump became the catalyst for resetting EU-UK relations?

With the US no longer a reliable ally for Europe, Brussels and London should "rebuild bridges that were demolished in 2016," says Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform. Yet the ongoing EU-UK 'reset' negotiations should overcome "the legacy of the bad feeling that has built up over the last ten years."

“The language in the US national security strategy about Europe facing civilisation erosion does not just apply to the EU, but also to the UK,” says Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER). Speaking to The New Union Post, he argues that both Brussels and London must now come to terms with the fact that “the US is no longer a reliable ally.”

...Despite many continuing to cling to the idea that the UK enjoys a special relationship with the US – rooted in dependency and close intelligence cooperation – Bond argues that, sooner or later, the British government will have to accept that “it will not enjoy the same relationship with Washington in the future, however difficult it finds it.”

As the CER’s Deputy Director points out, unless the UK wishes to become an isolated power, “it has to rebuild bridges that were demolished in 2016 to the nearest neighbours in the EU.” This would amount to the construction of an European alliance positioned in opposition to Washington. Because, if London were to move closer to the EU – which Trump and J. D. Vance openly oppose – the United States “would likely end intelligence and security cooperation,” Bond warns.

...As Bond explains, each time the government moves the UK even a millimetre closer to the EU, both the opposition party currently leading in the polls – Reform UK – and the Conservatives denounce it as a betrayal of the British people’s will, as expressed in the 2016 referendum.

...“A decade after Brexit, this has become an article of faith,” Bond explains, noting that one cannot simply decide they have chosen the wrong religion without being prepared to pay a steep price. “Your social networks will be destroyed – it is much easier to say that they were right all along.”