Do the CAA's recent changes to medical requirements mean I wasted my time getting a medical? I'm studying ab initio towards an EASA PPL. To be ready for my first solo, I obtained a class 2 medical certificate earlier this year. I had to take a day off work to do it and spend some cash that could have paid for flight time! Recently, the CAA has announced changes to the medical certificate requirements, aimed at reducing the need for private pilots to see an AME, but the announcement is not entirely clear to me.

Assuming these changes come into force before I first fly solo, could I have obtained an EASA PPL (and used all the privileges of that licence) without having obtained the class 2 medical certificate? If so, and assuming I don't intend to progress to a CPL or ATPL, is there anything else I need my certificate for, or any reason to renew it when that comes up in five years?
No, I don't think so.  I believe there is a distinction between a UK PPL and an EASA PPL.  UK PPLs are defined purely by the CAA and only permit flying of aircraft outside the scope of the EASA licensing regime, such as some vintage and home-built aircraft.

The CAA proposal applies to the UK NPPL and PPL licenses not to the EASA PPL (with the exception that it may apply to pilots flying non-EASA aircraft in the UK only).

As it stands it is still necessary to have a class 2 medical to use the full privileges of an EASA PPL, although as footnote 1 says the CAA "aim to influence EASA in considering reviewing the medical requirements for EASA Private Pilot licence holders flying EASA aircraft".