SPEAKERS

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Reform
Geoff Meade, Meade Davis Communications
Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive, European Policy Centre

The vote on 12 December is arguably the most important election in the UK in decades. Its outcome is still uncertain – though the Conservatives are leading in the polls by a clear margin, missteps on the campaign trail and convincing campaigns by Labour or the Liberal Democrats could, like in the last election in 2017, deny the government the parliamentary majority it seeks. The importance of the election outcome can hardly be overstated. It will determine the course of Brexit and thus lay the foundations for the direction the UK will take in the coming decades. Voters will face a stark choice between Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vision of a hard Brexit, a second referendum under Labour and the Liberal Democrats’ plan of remaining in the EU. In Scotland, it will be a test for the support of the Scottish National Party. What will the election result mean for Brexit and the longer-term direction of the UK? If polarisation in parliament increases due to the decisions by several moderate Conservative and Labour MPs to not stand again, how will this affect policymaking on Brexit and other issues? How should the EU react to the outcome?

At this Elections Monitor, Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform, Geoff Meade of Meade Davis Communications and Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive at the EPC, will analyse the outcome of the UK election and discuss its implications for Brexit and the future of the UK.