Loud and powerful voices on the Left want to pull the UK back into Brussels’ orbit as Labour blames Britain’s woes on leaving
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to deepen the UK’s relationship with the EU (Image: Getty)
There is a clear road that leads to Britain rejoining the European Union. Powerful figures on the Left are heaping pressure on the country’s weakened Prime Minister to put the UK in a much closer relationship with Brussels.
The worse things get economically, the louder the calls will grow for the UK to enter a customs union with the EU. Once inside, Rejoiners would argue Britain should become a full member of the bloc again.
The irony is that the argument for rejoining would be almost identical to the one deployed by Brexiteers for leaving. Britons would be urged to make the country a rule-maker and not just a rule-taker.
The closer the UK gets to the EU, the more regulations we agree to abide by, the stronger the case will be made that we should retake our position at the top table and shape the future of the union in a tumultuous world.
Right now, leading Labour figures have taken to blaming Brexit for the UK’s economic woes – at least in part to shield themselves from public anger at their policies. This month, Sir Keir Starmer said the post-Brexit deal “significantly hurt our economy”.
That came on the heels of Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying “the impact of Brexit is severe and long-lasting”.
With the two most senior people in Government making it clear they think the UK would be better off if we had not voted to leave nearly a decade ago, big beasts on the Left are pushing for a much deeper partnership.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting claimed Britain has “taken a massive economic hit leaving the European Union” and argued the “best way for us to get more growth into our economy is a deeper trading relationship with the EU”. Now the leader of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak, has called for the “closest possible economic and political relationship with the European Union”.
Thirteen Labour MPs have backed a Liberal Democrat push for the UK to join a bespoke customs union. It is easy to imagine Lib Dems and other EU-loving Left-wingers demanding a new referendum or radical bonds with the EU as the price for propping up Labour after the next election.
Michael Gove and Boris Johnson spearheaded Vote Leave but are no longer MPs (Image: Getty)
In the coming months, Labour will battle to avoid humiliation in May’s Scottish and Welsh parliament elections. Nationalist parties Plaid Cymru and the SNP are unapologetically pro-EU, with the latter saying the “greatest gift to the Scottish economy this year would be a swift return to the EU”.
As we near the 10-year anniversary of the vote to leave the EU, Brexiteers can afford no complacency. The leading figures in the Leave campaign are no longer in the Commons, and the decision to exit is under sustained attack.
This is not just a parliamentary battle. Champions of Brexit need to offer a different vision for the UK to a public that is fed up with the status quo.
They need to get back on the pitch and make the case that national decline is not inevitable, and that this is the time to pursue that dream of a sovereign, global Britain with a new ambition.
