State aid policy in the United Kingdom post-Brexit: a case of de-Europeanisation as orbiting Europeanisation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Competition policy has been at the core of the European integration project from its very inception. The United Kingdom (UK) played a truly pivotal role in the development of European Union (EU) competition policy with the policy long presenting one of the best illustrations of Europeanisation. The public vote for Brexit in 2016 pushed the reset button for the UK’s engagement with the EU and saw successive UK governments all pursuing a de-Europeanisation trajectory as part of their objective of ‘taking back control’. State aid emerged as a contentious issue during the Brexit negotiations. The UK government hailed its new Subsidy Control Act (2023) as a clear departure from the EU state aid regime, but is this a case of de-Europeanisation or partial de-Europeanisation? This article argues that the UK has still not entirely broken free from EU’s state aid regime and finds itself in a state of orbiting Europeanisation.