“The upcoming House of Commons elections will bring a fundamental change in British domestic politics. Still, their impact on Polish-British relations and Poland’s interests concerning London will likely be limited,” says Dr Przemysław Biskup, an expert at the Polish Foreign Affairs Institute (PISM).

All polls before the elections scheduled for July 4 predict a clear victory for the opposition Labor Party, which will allow it to remove the Conservative Party, which has been in power for 14 years.

In an interview with PAP, the bishop explained that from the Polish point of view, what is important is primarily how the new government will view Great Britain’s relations with the European Union, whether it will continue political, military and economic support for Ukraine, and how the change of government will translate into Polish-British cooperation in the arms industry and the situation of Poles living in Great Britain.

The expert says that the British managed to reach a consensus on Ukraine, leading all the main political powers to unite. There shall be no major changes in that matter, which from the Polish point of view is good information because the UK will remain a close ally of Poland.

„In the first period after the Russian invasion, Great Britain and Poland were in second and third place, after the United States, as the most important suppliers of weapons to Ukraine. Great Britain also has a relatively large financial assistance package for Ukraine. It is also worth noting that among large countries European countries, Great Britain has the most similar view to Poland of the situation related to Russian aggression and the need to repel it firmly,” Dr Biskup noted.

As for the situation of Poles living in Great Britain, Dr Biskup believes that it will not change much, but there is room for positive direction, which results from the more favourable attitude towards the European Union declared by the Labor Party. He recalled that the status of Poles who came to Great Britain before Brexit is regulated by the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU, and arrangements such as obtaining the status of settled status in Great Britain have already been largely implemented.

„In the case of people who would like to emigrate to Great Britain now, it will probably not change much, because the Labor Party remains under the influence of social mood and will certainly not want to introduce any immigration facilitations for European Union citizens. However, especially for young people, there will be more academic exchange programs may be an opportunity, and for professionals and scientists – research cooperation programs, which the new government may want to go deeper into,” explained Dr Biskup.

Tomasz Modrzejewski

Photo: jorono/Pixabay

source: PAP