City Research Online

Abstract

EU laws have exerted a powerful influence on research, manufacturing, supply, sale and procurement of the products on which national health systems rely. Pre-Brexit, the UK was closely involved in the policy and operation of regulations affecting these goods. Since Brexit, ideological polarisation and the political salience of health during a global pandemic have driven a rhetoric of competitive divergence. However, active UK policy divergence to date is limited. It is unsettled whether the UK, as a small market in this global industry, genuinely seeks a higher risk, more industry-friendly regulatory paradigm. With regulatory and policy capacity also under strain, important decisions have been delayed. The position of Northern Ireland remains highly precarious, with negotiations ongoing on how to handle its unique partial status within the single market. The UK’s attempt to remain within the EU’s research funding programme has consequently been pushed into involuntary divergence.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDer-ivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distri-bution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered,transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of theAccepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Brexit; European Union; regulation; UK; medical devices; pharmaceuticals
Subjects:	J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain K Law > K Law (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > Institute for the Study of European Laws
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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