Brexit: It looks like a complete break

Britain looks to be heading for a "hard Brexit" and an interventionist industrial strategy. What will this mean for sector policy and regulation?

The UK looks likely to be heading towards a hard Brexit, in which it severs all formal ties with the EU completely, according to the Prime Minister’s speech on January 17th. Such a break could have profound long term effects on sector policy and regulation in Britain, offering the government more scope for direct involvement, for good or ill, if it so wishes. In September 2016, SPC Network published a paper setting out our thoughts on what Brexit might mean for various aspects of regulation in the electronic communications market. In this issue of Hexagon, we examine how events since September, in particular the PM’s speech, might affect our Brexit scenarios.