Brexit was supposed to be “done”. Yet in 2026, Britain’s place in Europe is right back at the top of the political agenda.

While Keir Starmer’s government has promised a pragmatic relationship “reset,” figures like Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting are already looking further ahead towards considering a full rejoin. In a more fragile world order, with greater geopolitical insecurity, the discussion on where we sit in Europe has never been more pertinent.

In the latest episode of the Policy Fix podcast, host Joe Owen sits down with Professor Anand Menon, director of UK in a Changing Europe and Tim Leunig, chief economist at Nesta.

They weigh the economic cost of being outside the EU, estimated by the best academic work at six to eight per cent of GDP, and ask whether the government’s strategy of selective alignment and sectoral deals adds up to a new phase or more of the same.

The conversation covers free movement and the single market, the customs union, the politics of immigration and cost of living, why the EU has little incentive to make life easy for the UK, and whether rejoining is realistic given the current political climate.

Watch the full episode on our YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Professor Anand Menon, director, UK in a Changing Europe

Anand is a leading expert on the UK’s relationship with Europe, and on home and foreign affairs more widely. He is a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London, and the director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank. In an academic career stretching over thirty years, he has taught and researched British and European politics at several leading universities and is a respected voice on EU-UK relations in the media.

Alongside regular appearances on radio and television, including Question Time and Newsnight, the Today programme and Analysis on Radio 4, he has written for many specialist foreign policy and political, as well as mainstream, publications including The Times, the FT, Le Monde, The Guardian, the Mirror and New Statesman.

Anand is also co-author of Brexit and British Politics, which delivers an objective exploration of the underlying reasons behind the Brexit vote, the relationship between people and politics, and the implications for democracy and democratic debate in the UK.

Tim Leunig, chief economist, Nesta

Tim is chief economist at Nesta. He served as a senior UK government adviser for a decade, including as an economic adviser to two chancellors, senior policy adviser to six other cabinet ministers, and chief analyst and chief scientific adviser to the Department for Education. He invented the UK’s furlough scheme, the National Funding Formula for England’s schools, and Progress 8, the method for evaluating secondary schools. In autumn 2023, he was the prime minister’s education adviser. He has taught at the London School of Economics for 25 years and is a multiple international prize-winning economist. He is also a director of economics at Public First.