Mind the gap! UK employment policy both during and beyond EU membership: from policy layering to policy drift

Abstract

This article interrogates the impact of EU employment policy on the UK both during and after EU Membership. To do so, it adopts insights from both historical institutionalism and discursive institutionalism. The argument made is that integration in the area of employment policy resulted in a process of ‘layering’ whereby EU policy ultimately tamed some of the more liberal elements of the UK’s employment model. Such layering, however, failed to generate a more fundamental change within the UK’s path dependency owing to the emergence of a powerful discourse within British politics. This discourse portrayed EU legislation as a threat to the UK’s ability to generate growth and jobs. As an ‘independent’ country, however, overtime UK employment policy is likely to experience policy drift from the EU, albeit the extent of such remains unclear.