The deal to readmit the UK into the £85bn Horizon science programme shows the country has good enough relations with the EU to resolve a range of other issues, Rishi Sunak has said, including one on electric vehicle tariffs.
The prime minister announced on Thursday that Britain would re-enter the scientific research scheme after three years of exclusion and months of negotiation.
He hailed the deal as a sign of restored trust between the two sides after years of rancour following Brexit, and suggested it would mark a new era of cooperation on a range of issues.
Speaking on the way to the G20 summit in India, Sunak said: “I can get things done for the interests of the UK and that’s what we’ll continue to do, whether it’s on Horizon, whether it’s on cooperation on illegal migration … or whether it’s on having a dialogue on [car tariffs].”
Since becoming prime minister, Sunak has prioritised restoring relations with Brussels, which reached a nadir when Boris Johnson threatened to unilaterally override the Northern Ireland protocol that he had agreed with the EU.
Sunak’s efforts have come to fruition in recent months, first with a new deal over Northern Ireland, known as the Windsor framework, and now with the Horizon agreement.
The deal was sealed with a call between Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Wednesday night. Von der Leyen said afterwards that the agreement proved the EU and the UK were “key strategic partners”, while Natalie Loiseau, the French MEP, said it showed a “climate of restored trust” between the two.
Two major areas of disagreement remain, however. Sunak wants to sign an agreement to return migrants who cross the Channel to mainland Europe but has so far met resistance from European leaders. The EU denied reports this week that an aide to Von der Leyen was not open to an agreement at all.
An agreement on electric vehicle tariffs looks far closer after Germany dropped its opposition to Sunak’s proposal to postpone incoming duties for three years.
Under the current deal between the UK and EU, cars shipped across the Channel are subject to 10% levies if they contain batteries made outside Europe.
However, China still controls the world’s supply of the type of lithium needed to make electric vehicle batteries, which account for up to 45% of the cost of an electric vehicle. As a result, Sunak has pushed the EU to agree to a three-year moratorium on the tariffs to allow European countries to wean themselves off Chinese supplies.
His plans received a boost this week after the Financial Times revealed that Germany had dropped its opposition to a tariff delay after the electric vehicle industry said the levies would cause economic damage.
Earlier this year, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) wrote to the commission to formally request a suspension of the tariff, which they said could cost the industry €4.3bn and “potentially reduce electric vehicle production by some 480,000 units”.
Sunak said he would continue to talk to his European counterparts about the issue, though he would not say whether the subject was likely to arise during the weekend’s G20 summit.
He said: “It’s something we’ve talked about already … It has been a conversation we’ve been having for a while and will continue to have.”
