Keir Starmer Meets With Olaf Scholz In Berlin. (Image: Getty)
There is a 10% chance that the country will hold a second Brexit referendum, as bookmaker William Hill slashes the odds on a second vote happening to 9/1.
Yesterday Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey used his first speech of 2025 to call for the UK to rejoin the Customs Union whilst Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch admitted her party left the union without a plan for what came next.
The Labour party have been made little mention of Brexit, both in the lead up to the lection and after gaining power, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s first months in office have been dominated by an effort to reset relations with the bloc.
Last year, Starmer spoke of the need to improve relations with Europe whilst insisting that that did not mean reversing Brexit.
He said: “That does not mean reversing Brexit or re-entering the single market or the cus toms union.
Yesterday, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for the UK to rejoin the customs union. (Image: Getty)
“But it does mean a closer relationship on a number of fronts, including the economy, including defence, including exchanges.”
The slashing of the odds comes at a time when tensions within the bloc are strained, with its biggest countries facing domestic political turmoil.
In Germany, the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government has led to an upcoming election that he is widely expected to lose.
Meanwhile, in France, Emmanual Macron has burnt through four Prime Ministers in a year as Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally continues to pile on the pressure.
Germany and France are in the midst of domestic political turmoil. (Image: Getty)
The political turmoil across the bloc and the impending inauguration of Donald Trump as US President means that any reversal of Brexit is unlikely in the next four years.
The US President-elect has in the past taken a hardline with the union and has threatened to impose tariffs on the EU unless they step up U.S. oil and gas imports.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large-scale purchase of our oil and gas.
“”Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”
Interestingly, the odds of a second referendum in the 2030s are even shorter, with the odds of another vote in 2035 or beyond slashed to 2/9.
