It sounded like the perfect start to 2026. \u201cFears Starmer is plotting a \u2018full-blown Brexit betrayal\u2019\u201d fumed the Daily Express\u2019s front page on Monday, January 5. \u201cIn his mind, what better way to mark the 10th anniversary of Brexit than by undoing it?\u201d foamed Suella Braverman on GB News, a couple of days later.<\/p>\n
When talk of Brexit betrayal is in the air, the only sensible reaction is surely \u201cwhen can you start?\u201d When Starmer \u2013 frustratingly cautious on the issue both in opposition and government \u2013 is supposedly doing the undoing, you should be digging out the last of the Christmas fizz.<\/p>\n
Yet for Rejoiners, there is reason to be nervous. Because ask yourself this: is Keir Starmer really the man who is going to persuade Britain that it needs \u201ceven closer alignment\u201d with the EU, as he told Laura Kuenssberg in an interview on January 4? Or, as some think he will soon say, that it should join a customs union with the EU? Or even that it should hold a second referendum on returning to the European Union?<\/p>\n
A consensus appears to be building on both the Brexiteer right and Rejoin left that this year the prime minister will have to be bolder still on Britain and Europe; that either his ongoing search for a narrative or the need to keep colleagues onside after catastrophic losses in May\u2019s elections will lead him to a big, bold move like the customs union option favoured by David Lammy, Wes Streeting and his chief economic adviser, Baroness Minouche Shafik.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the downside?\u201d asked Rory Stewart on a recent episode of The Rest Is Politics. \u201cYou\u2019re doomed anyway, you\u2019ll already struggle to remain as leader.\u201d The pollster Peter Kellner says that Starmer declaring \u201chis long-term goal is a democratic decision, at an election or referendum, to rejoin the EU\u201d would be a \u201cwow factor\u201d move, \u201ca change that is big, dramatic and courageous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The worry is that Starmer might take a customs union or Rejoin down with him. Brexit may be massively unpopular, but the prime minister is far more disliked. The recent Deltapoll survey that showed Stay Out trailing Rejoin by 16 points also shows Starmer\u2019s rating 49 points underwater. On Boxing Day, he was taunted as \u201cthe least popular prime minister in history\u201d by none other than Liz Truss.\u00a0
Think back to the 2016 referendum, and Austerity George being sent out as the voice of Remain. No-one gave Brexit a chance of succeeding before the hugely disliked Osborne started weighing in for the other side. Might the same happen for Stay Out if Starmer, a poor public speaker about whom most people seem to have made up their minds, started banging the second referendum drum again?<\/p>\n
Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch seem to relish the idea of him doing so. There was extra bite this week in their attacks on Starmer\u2019s unexciting though necessary plans to speed up regulatory alignment in sectors beyond agrifoods and energy trading, so more sector-by-sector trade deals can be done in future.<\/p>\n
They sense, too, that more might be about to come \u2013 that Starmer\u2019s only big victory in May is likely to be Arsenal winning the league, that Europe could be his final throw of the dice and that the question facing Britain will then be: would you buy an undone Brexit from this man?<\/p>\n
The bigger picture<\/strong><\/p>\n Nearly six out of 10 Britons (58%) would vote to rejoin the European Union if a referendum were held tomorrow, with only 42% voting against, according to a Deltapoll survey for the Daily Mirror. Every area of the county is pro-rejoin, with support highest in Scotland (73%), London (65%) and Wales (65%). It is lowest in the North (54%) and Midlands (53%), but overall both regions support a return to the EU. While 86% of voters aged 18-24 want to reverse Brexit, older voters still back staying out \u2013 by 51% to 49% among 55 to 64-year-olds, and 58% to 42% among over-65s.<\/p>\n Data: Deltapoll, weighted survey of 1997 British adults online, December 16-18, 2025. Visualisation: TNW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It sounded like the perfect start to 2026. \u201cFears Starmer is plotting a \u2018full-blown Brexit betrayal\u2019\u201d fumed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-682963","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-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115861361965890182","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682963","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=682963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}