Reforming UK labour regulation – in or out of the EU – would be hard work

What are the prospects for limiting or reversing the influence of Brussels over UK labour market policy? And is this desirable or necessary? These questions were the focus of a lively but amicable debate as part of the third session of the LSE Commission on the Future of Britain in Europe, writes Steve Coulter. The broad conclusion of the discussion, involving business groups, trade unionists and policy analysts, was that UK and EU labour market policies and practices are now so intertwined that it would be extremely difficult for the UK to extract itself from the ambit of EU Single Market regulation – even in the event of withdrawal from the EU, or a ‘Brexit’.