Brexit will re-make the UK’s relationship with the EU but also change the country’s wider place in the world.
In this public lecture, Philip Rycroft, former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the EU, examined what might lie ahead.
He looked at the options for the new relationship with the EU, and asked how the UK will need to adapt if it is to influence policy decisions of the EU as a third country.
He looked at the interaction between a trade deal with the EU and trade deals with other countries, and asked what this might mean for the UK’s influence in the world.
Lecture: recording and transcript
The introduction by Des McNulty from Policy Scotland starts at six minutes. Philip Rycroft begins his talk at seven minutes 40 seconds and continues to 47 minutes 10 seconds.
About Philip Rycroft
Philip Rycroft was Permanent Secretary of DExEU, the Department for Exiting the European Union, from October 2017 to March 2019, responsible for leading the department in its work on the Government’s preparations for Brexit.
He joined the Scottish Office in 1989 and became Deputy Head of the new Scottish Executive’s Policy Unit in 1999. In 2009 he joined the UK government in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, and following a year in the private sector, became the Director-General of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office in the Cabinet Office in 2012.
After the 2015 general election he took on the roles of the Second Permanent Secretary and Head of the UK Governance Group. He joined DExEU as its Second Permanent Secretary in 2016 prior to becoming Permanent Secretary.
This lecture took place on Monday 7 October 2019 at the Sir Charles Wilson Building, University of Glasgow