EU déjà vu: the emergency brake is back!

Coffee House Shots

Apr 02, 2026•13 min

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Episode description

Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform and Tim Shipman join James Heale to reflect on the rumours about Britain's latest set of negotiations with the European Union. There are reports that the EU may be willing to accept some form of mechanism, that the UK could use, should Britain ever wish to temporarily halt the number of inbound students. Perhaps we could call such a mechanism an 'emergency brake'. Sound familiar?

What does this tell us about the dynamics of the EU, how the UK-EU relationship works – and how inevitable was the result in 2016?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy.

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