EU leaders come to UK's 'Brexit reset' summit to explore options

Both sides are looking at closer cooperation in the face of U.S. trade wars and the Ukraine conflict – amid growing calls for a Brexit reset.

When former prime minister Boris Johnson negotiated Britain's exit from the European Union, he went for a hard Brexit, ending most areas of cooperation. Now both sides believe the time is right for a reset in areas such as defense, trade, and possibly travel.

Security is top of the agenda. The UK still works closely with other European countries through NATO, with British troops currently in Estonia alongside French and Danish forces.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has joined France, Germany and Poland to lead the so-called 'coalition of the willing' to provide peacekeepers to Ukraine once there is a ceasefire.

Europe is starting to re-arm, but Britain is unable to access the recently agreed $150 billion European defense procurement fund – and that's adding to calls for closer alignment.

"I think the UK needs a formal arrangement to lock in with the EU on defense. Other countries have this – Canada does, Norway does," says Nick Harvey, a former defense minister and current CEO of the European Movement UK.

"The UK needs this as well, because European defense is going to become increasingly important. There needs to be a formal basis on which we play a part in it."

Improving trade is another priority. Importing and exporting food and agricultural products has become more complicated and expensive post-Brexit. Now, Britain is proposing to re-align UK food standards with the EU to ease border crossings.

Traveling abroad to live, work or study has also been severely restricted post-Brexit. 

Brussels has called for a youth mobility scheme where anyone under 30 can move and work freely in either direction. It also wants Britain to rejoin the Erasmus student exchange programme.

So far the British government has been reluctant because these schemes would raise immigration, a highly sensitive political issue.

Brexit: A divisive issue

Five years on, Brexit remains a divisive issue. Starmer is already facing accusations of betrayal from the opposition Conservative party – while others criticize him for being too timid and not going far enough.

Harvey says the summit agenda is more comprehensive than what was being considered earlier this year, but he hopes this is just the beginning.

"Even if everything that's been mooted for this conference were to happen and to come about, there will still be an awful long way to go," he said. "We've got to really sort out the whole customs relationship with the EU as the next really serious piece of progress."

But there could be stumbling blocks along the way.

Under the original Brexit deal, French fishermen were allowed to continue using British waters. That runs out next year and France wants the deal renewed as part of the reset – a move opposed by British fishermen.

Although a full return to the bloc is definitely not on the agenda, the UK and EU are clearly trying to move closer together. How easy that will be remains to be seen.