EU loans for university infrastructure at risk, peers warn

The House of Lords European Union committee has lambasted the UK government for its lack of clarity on the UK’s future relationship with the European Investment Bank, which provides billions in loans to British universities.

After Brexit, the UK will no longer be a member of the EIB and will “almost certainly” be relegated to the status of a “third country”, the committee said in a report on 31 January. Although the EIB lends to countries outside the EU, this happens on a much smaller scale compared with member states and relies on the existence of a framework agreement.

“Despite this, the government has said almost nothing about how it envisages that such a relationship would work,” the committee said. It warned that UK projects will not receive EIB funding after 29 March “until and unless a future relationship is agreed”.