Making their voices heard: Relations between the UK's nations and regions and the EU post-Brexit

Across the world regions, cities and substate actors are part of the common currency of contemporary global politics. The foreign policy of any substate government or empowered authority is generally built upon their domestic competences. Most cities and regions exercise some degree of authority on issues such as environmental protection and sustainability, economic development, agriculture, education and transportation. This competence framework overlaps significantly with areas on which the EU continues to develop a policy agenda with significant global reach and suggests that conversations between these actors need to continue as the UK evolves into its role as a non-member partner country of the EU.

Prior to Brexit, all of the UK’s constituent nations and regions were home to a representative office or mini-embassy in Brussels, often a hub for governmental and local commercial interests that worked to harness opportunities for engagement with a wide range of European partners. These multi-level partnerships have the advantage of being far more flexible than nation-to-nation interactions and can be more directly focused on delivering social and economic well-being at a more local scale. This type of ‘paradiplomacy’ differs from state diplomacy as it is not about pursuing a defined state interest in the international arena but rather it is more pragmatic, targeted and opportunistic – sometimes even experimental.