The 2026 review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the UK-EU reset
A review of implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement will take place in 2026 and could coincide with further steps in the reset of UK-EU relations
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) includes a set of review dates, including a general provision in Article 776 of the TCA for review of implementation of the entire Agreement five years after it comes into force, and then every five years after this. The first review is due in 2026.
Article 776 had been presented in some commentaries and political discussion in the UK, as an opportunity for the UK and EU to renegotiate the TCA and revisit the UK-EU relationship more broadly. EU officials have however stressed that Article 776 is a review of how the TCA is being implemented, rather than an opportunity to revise it.
Following the UK-EU summit in May 2025 the Minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds said that the review of the TCA had been “overtaken” by the reset in UK-EU relations that has taken place since the Labour government took office in July 2024, with changes under the TCA and other initiatives to deepen cooperation having already been agreed.
Commentaries on the TCA review process have suggested that it could be a question of political will on the part of the UK and EU as to how to approach the review, and whether to treat it as a narrow technical exercise or as an opportunity to revisit certain TCA provisions or supplement it with new agreements and other revisions to the UK-EU relationship.
The European Commission’s annual report on implementation (PDF) of the TCA and the UK’s reports on implementation provide an indication of some of the implementation issues that could be raised in the review of the TCA. These also draw on issues raised by the UK and EU in meetings of the joint UK-EU Partnership Council, the main governance body of the TCA, as well as the specialised committees which cover specific sectors.
Some of the issues raised in these reports, such as the operation of work permit and visa systems by both sides and the challenges faced by UK touring artists seeking to work in the EU, have also been covered in the UK-EU reset discussions.
Recent commentaries and proposals for the TCA review have suggested it could be utilised to build on the momentum of the UK-EU reset.
The UK-EU resetOn 19 May 2025, the UK Government and the EU held their first joint summit since the UK left the EU. The outcomes of the summit were set out in three documents:
- A UK-EU Joint Statement (PDF) which sets out a new Strategic Partnership between the UK and EU.
- A Security and Defence Partnership between the EU and the United Kingdom, adopted as a non-binding political framework of cooperation.
- A “Common Understanding” setting out a renewed agenda for strengthened bilateral cooperation across a range of policy areas. Several of these commitments will require further negotiation, possibly leading to new UK-EU agreements.
Among the commitments in the Common Understanding are a proposed new agreement to establish a common sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) area (covering food and agricultural standards), an agreement on linking the UK and EU emission trading schemes (ETS), a possible agreement on UK participation in the EU’s internal electricity market and a UK-EU youth experience agreement. The UK and EU would also work towards UK association with the Erasmus+ training and education exchange programme.
The UK-EU Joint statement (PDF) committed the UK and EU to holding annual summits to “drive progress” on these commitments. No date has been set for the 2026 summit.
Progress since the May 2025 summitThe Council of the EU adopted a negotiating mandate on the proposed youth experience agreement in June 2025, authorising the European Commission to open negotiations with the UK. The Commission also published a draft negotiating mandate on the SPS and ETS agreement in July 2025. The Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations on 13 November 2025, with the Commission indicating that negotiations would start the following week. The UK government has said that it hopes an SPS agreement can be in place by 2027.
In the context of the new security and defence partnership, the Common Understanding states that UK-EU cooperation under the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence financing initiative will also be swiftly explored. The Council of the EU adopted a decision on 18 September 2025 authorising the opening of negotiations with the UK on its participation in SAFE. The European Commission has indicated that it hopes an agreement will be in place with the UK by the end of November 2025. This will enable the UK to take part in procurement bids alongside EU Member States.
The Parliamentary Partnership AssemblyThis briefing was prepared for a breakout session on the “Review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the 2026 UK-EU Summit” at the sixth meeting of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA), held in the UK Parliament on 17-18 November 2025.
The PPA was established under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement and brings together members of the UK Parliament (MPs and Peers) and Members of the European Parliament.