{"id":618390,"date":"2025-12-07T17:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/618390\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T17:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:59:16","slug":"keir-starmer-refuses-to-rule-out-rejoining-eu-as-pm-prepares-for-crunch-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/618390\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer refuses to rule out rejoining EU as PM prepares for crunch talks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out rejoining the European Union in his lifetime as the Prime Minister prepares for crunch talks with continental countries &#8220;about how we can be closer&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Keir, who campaigned for a second referendum as Jeremy Corbyn&#8217;s Shadow Brexit Secretary, declined to comment on his stance on the bloc five times during an interview with The Observer. <\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister&#8217;s comments come just 18 months after he ruled out rejoining the EU ahead of the 2024 General Election.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Keir is also coming under pressure from top Labour figures to forge closer ties with Brussels, including from his Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. <\/p>\n<p>Speaking to The Observer, the Prime Minister instead said: &#8220;We&#8217;ve stopped having the discussion about whether we should go backwards and pick over Brexit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sir Keir, who has been ramping up his attacks on the architects of Brexit in recent months, also insisted that &#8220;the battles coming up in politics&#8221; are bigger than him or the Labour Party.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed he is not worried about the prospect of Kemi Badenoch becoming the next Prime Minister.<\/p>\n<p>However, Sir Keir admitted his fears about Nigel Farage winning the next general election. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"3bf09\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"48d94a802075ceb895b35f16144cfda9\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%205000%203334'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/the-prime-minister-refused-to-rule-out-britain-rejoining-the-brussels-bloc-five.jpg\" width=\"5000\" height=\"3334\" alt=\"The Prime Minister refused to rule out Britain rejoining the Brussels bloc five\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister refused to rule out Britain rejoining the Brussels bloc five<\/p>\n<p> | <\/p>\n<p>PA<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I worry about what will happen to our country in terms of tearing our communities apart,&#8221; the Prime Minister said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once you say that diverse communities aren&#8217;t British, that reasonable, compassionate people aren&#8217;t part of who we are, and that we don&#8217;t want to look after each other, and that only points of division count, you&#8217;re going in a different direction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, recent opinion polls suggest Mr Farage could succeed Sir Keir in No10.<\/p>\n<p>Find Out Now handed Reform UK an 11-point lead over Mrs Badenoch&#8217;s Tories, with Labour slumping to a record-low of just 14 per cent. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"630aa\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"17a808a85a1db6852223dcc899a9262a\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%204928%203280'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pro-brexit-campaigners-celebrate-brexit-day.jpg\" width=\"4928\" height=\"3280\" alt=\"Pro-Brexit campaigners celebrate Brexit day\"\/>Pro-Brexit campaigners celebrate Brexit day | GETTY<\/p>\n<p>Zack Polanski&#8217;s Green Party leapfrogged Labour into third place, sparking fears among MPs of Sir Keir being outflanked on his left.<\/p>\n<p>Taking the fight to Mr Polanski, Sir Keir told The Observer: &#8220;They&#8217;re anti-Nato at a time when the world is more volatile than it has ever been.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Green Party thinks it&#8217;s all right to sell drugs and there should be no restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So, somebody could sell drugs outside my children&#8217;s school but, if you&#8217;re a landlord, it should be unlawful. That&#8217;s nuts. They&#8217;re dangerous.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"47691\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"7612908087e4a09b9fb9adf721cdd2d3\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%203989%202612'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765130355_788_zack-polanski.jpg\" width=\"3989\" height=\"2612\" alt=\"Zack Polanski\"\/>Zack Polanski blasted Labour&#8217;s proposed reforms |  PA<\/p>\n<p>However, the Prime Minister is now plotting to find a way for ex-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to return to Cabinet in a potential boost to his left-wing credentials.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Rayner, who is reportedly being eyed up by Wes Streeting&#8217;s allies to stand on a &#8220;joint ticket&#8221; against Sir Keir, resigned from her role after failing to pay \u00a340,000 in stamp duty on her second home in Hove. <\/p>\n<p>When asked if he misses Ms Rayner, the Prime Minister said: &#8220;Yes, of course I do.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was really sad that we lost her. As I said to her at the time, she&#8217;s going to be a major voice in the Labour movement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sir Keir also insisted Ms Rayner would return to his Cabinet. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"7ed87\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"c80ad44727e3dde882042c905f5c2ff4\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%203248%202168'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/angela-rayner.jpg\" width=\"3248\" height=\"2168\" alt=\"Angela Rayner\"\/>Angela Rayner resigned from the Cabinet earlier this year | PA<\/p>\n<p>However, Sir Keir&#8217;s refusal to speak about rejoining the EU comes after the Prime Minister rebuked Mr Lammy over his Brexit comments.<\/p>\n<p>An official No10 spokesman insisted more than 10 times that remaining outside the customs union remains a &#8220;red line&#8221; for the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n<p>However, Sir Keir continued with his attack against the architects of Brexit in a keynote speech earlier this week. <\/p>\n<p>He said it would be \u201cutterly reckless\u201d to use Brexit as \u201ca template for our future foreign policy\u201d and pledged a \u201ccloser relationship\u201d with the EU by the end of Labour\u2019s term in Government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out rejoining the European Union in his lifetime as the Prime&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,285,16,3106,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-618390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-keir-starmer","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-uk-politics","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115679590189550950","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}