Naomi Smith FCMA, Chief Executive Best for Britain
2025 was a geopolitical marathon for Britain, and for all of us working to rebuild the EU-UK relationship. There were false starts, stumbles and a couple of blow outs. We may be in a lot of pain, but that shouldn’t distract us from what was achieved in the slog, not least the fantastic news confirmed during the home stretch – that UK students will soon be participating in Erasmus+ once again. As we welcome the new year and lace up our running shoes again, we should be hopeful that we can do even better while remaining clear-eyed about the immense challenges that await.
I’m hopeful that this year will see more concrete progress on the areas of EU-UK cooperation set out in that EU-UK summit in May, many of which were first proposed by the UK Trade and Business Commission – organised by Best for Britain. Despite optimistic timeframes set out by Ursula von der Leyen, last year it became clear both sides were moving a lot slower than originally hoped, with meaningful negotiations on many key issues only really getting started as leaves turned orange.
The UK Government has pinned hopes of reducing high consumer prices on striking an agreement with our largest market on food standards and energy. These must come next year, but to make a difference that people can feel, this must only be the start. We need broader EU-UK alignment to ease trade friction and thereby reduce costs across the entire economy. Crucially, 2026 must also see the EU allow the UK and our advanced defence industry access to the SAFE rearmament fund. For the two sides to flounder on this critical issue of defence, in the same week that Putin and Trump were verbally carving up Ukraine, was shameful.
Increasingly, it looks like agreement on a Youth Experience Scheme is the key to unlocking all of it. Following our own recommendations to bridge the gap on outstanding issues, I am optimistic that we will see it confirmed this year, restoring opportunities and valuable cultural exchange to young people and communities across Britain – forging long lasting ties and boosting British soft-power.
The fear we should all have is if either side allows myopic political concerns to derail progress towards these goals. Nowhere is this a greater risk than in our collective action against Putin’s aggression and, unfortunately, nowhere is this more likely. It was the story throughout 2025. Any continued failure of the EU and UK to act in concert will only embolden the dictator, already boosted by a White House now openly hostile to Europe.
Another pothole is the local and Senedd elections in May. Many predict that a likely poor Labour showing will spark a cannonade of leadership challenges against Starmer, with reports suggesting many campaigns are at advanced stages of organisation. The rancour threatens to derail the crucial EU-UK Summit also scheduled for May, although there is a chance it could act as a stimulant rather than a blocker, as Starmer’s challengers tack more pro-Europe to court the Labour faithful.
Zoe Gardner, UK immigration and asylum policy campaigner
We enter 2026 in a dark and dangerous political time. The far-right controls the narrative on immigration, and the supposed centrists have apparently given up the fight, with the Labour government pursuing a pretty extreme anti-migrant agenda.
My biggest fear for 2026 is that the hateful narratives being fed into our politics – often seeded and funded from abroad and through the MAGA movement that brought Trump to power – will continue to take root, and that we will lose the sacred ground we hold for human rights and pluralism in favour of a US-style resurgence of ethno-nationalism.
The local elections and Senedd elections in May could see significant gains for the Reform party, with many councils falling to Reform control, and the Senedd race on a knife-edge. If councils are taken over by Reform, that could have direct and harmful consequences on funding and services available to vulnerable local migrant communities, but it will also feed a media narrative that positions the rise of the anti-migrant right as ever more inevitable in the run-up to a general election. Conversely, these elections are likely to bring hope as well, as Plaid Cymru, which has an unabashedly welcoming and positive agenda around migration may still win the most seats in Wales, providing a strong counter-narrative.
Across England as well, many urban councils will turn from Labour to the Greens and LibDems – parties that are offering more hope and positivity. Through well-organised anti-Reform voting, we could see its progress blocked in favour of these positive alternatives. This moment of hope is one that progressives should be ready to capitalise on as much as we can, fighting back against the narrative that the public’s only concern is who can be the harshest on immigrants.
If the Labour party then decide to change their leadership, we have another knife-edge moment of hope versus fear, where they could move either in a more progressive direction, or double down on the current approach. In the latter case I fear a real moment of despair, but there remains everything to play for. A progressive leadership that takes on a more pragmatic and humane approach to immigration still has time to turn around the polls. It could even introduce a fairer, more proportional voting system to avoid a future where Nigel Farage becomes Prime Minister on under 30% of the vote at the next election, which under First Past the Post is a terrifyingly real possibility.
In 2026 Tommy Robinson will lead big nationalist marches, and Trump will continue to work to strangle our attempts at European solidarity, notably with Ukraine. My hope is that the so-far silenced majority in this country, who reject a UK-brand of MAGA politics and refuse to acquiesce to racism will make ourselves heard at last. We must recognise the urgency of the moment and become far more vocal and confident about our demands for the kind of country we want to be.
Gina Miller, businesswoman, transparency and social justice campaigner
Why the UK must move faster on Europe – and be honest about what’s possible.
There is a growing generational divide at the heart of Britain’s relationship with Europe, and it is reshaping the political landscape faster than Westminster is willing to admit.
Recent polling consistently shows that young people overwhelmingly want a much closer relationship with the EU, with large majorities supportive of eventual re-joining. But it also reveals a crucial truth: the politics of re-membership are not viable in the short term. The real danger now is not timidity, but unrealistic ambition that could derail the entire project.
Multiple polls underline how far opinion has shifted. YouGov research shows that around 56% of the public now believe Brexit was a mistake, while a Best for Britain/YouGov poll found over 60% support the UK seeking a closer relationship with the EU. Among younger voters, the numbers are far more striking. Savanta polling for ITV’s Peston indicates that between two-thirds and three-quarters of 18–25-year-olds would vote to rejoin the EU if given the chance. This is not a marginal trend; it is a generational realignment.
Yet even among these younger, strongly pro-European voters, there is realism. The lesson of the past decade is that grand constitutional leaps without public consent backfire. With the next general election due at the latest by August 2029, and Reform UK now leading in several polls, the political window for rebuilding UK-EU ties is narrow and fragile. An all-out push for immediate re-joining risks alienating swing voters and handing ammunition to those who would freeze or reverse cooperation altogether.
That said, Labour’s current approach feels too slow. The polling shows the public is ready, impatient for practical progress. What they are not asking for is symbolism or abstract debates about sovereignty. They want outcomes that have real life positive consequences.
There are clear, achievable “easy wins” that could be delivered within this Parliament and would lock in lasting benefits. A Youth Mobility Scheme tops the list. Polling shows strong support across age groups for restoring opportunities to live, work and study in Europe, particularly for young people who lost those rights overnight through Brexit. A capped, reciprocal scheme would not reopen the freedom of movement debate, it would restore hope and opportunity where it is most urgently needed.
Equally important is re-joining EU data-sharing and security mechanisms. Polling consistently shows over 70% of the public support cooperation with the EU on security, policing and crime. These systems make the UK safer, more effective and more trusted. Leaving them fragmented is ideological and dangerous, not pragmatic.
There is also a clear template available. The recently updated Swiss-EU agreement demonstrates how a non-member state can secure structured access to EU programmes, regulatory cooperation and economic integration without full membership. The UK’s circumstances differ, but the lesson is the same: alignment can be deep, durable and politically defensible.
The real prize before 2029 and a possible Reform led government, is not re-joining. It is irreversibility – embedding cooperation so deeply that it cannot easily be undone by a future anti-EU government. Young people understand this instinctively. They want Britain back at the European table – but they also know that losing the 2029 election would mean losing everything.
Hope requires ambition. Fear demands urgency. Collective realism in 2026 from all pro-EU campaigns and campaigners is what will decide whether this moment is seized or squandered – even as those in favour of rejoining is set to continue to grow each year leading up to the next general election due to demographic changes and leavers changing their minds.
