Brexit Horizon

Sep 10 2023 The Guardian

A few days ago the UK rejoined the EU’s Horizon, a £81 or €95 billion programme for scientific collaboration; as an associate member, but still.

In forcing a U-turn on Horizon, scientists are showing that the flaws of Brexit can be overcome

That is really good news for both UK and European science, but not everyone is celebrating. The UK has been out of the programme for nearly three years, which, according to some prominent scientists, “has done irreversible damage to UK science”.

UK’s years out of EU Horizon programme did ‘untold damage’, say scientists

Well, science is based on facts, Brexit-politics definitely is not.

So, has the UK reached the high-water mark of Brexit, as Will Hutton states in his article? He highlights a few examples; the UK rejoins Horizon, Northern Ireland stays in the EU and the UK single market, the UK will not scrap 4,000 laws, and the new border regime checking on imports of EU food has been postponed for the fifth time.

Maybe facts and pragmatism will in the end turn the tide against Brexit-politics, and as Hutton ends his piece;

Britain will need to extend its new pragmatism and rejoin the single market and customs union. When it does, there will be the same universal welcome as there was for rejoining Horizon. The Brexit project is exploded. The task is now to repair the wreckage.

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Personally, I would love to see the end of Brexit, maybe write a post with the title “Brexit is Over”, but since this is politics, and despite the fact that most people would not vote for Brexit now, I will not be holding my breath on this.