Ten years ago \u2013\u00a0ten years that feel both like ten months and ten decades \u2013 this magazine launched as\u00a0The New European, \u201cthe paper for the 48%\u201d.<\/p>\n
Today, that slogan would need adjusting. We\u2019d now be the paper of the 56% who believe Brexit was a mistake.<\/p>\n
Within that monolith of Bregret, the numbers are starker still. Among Labour voters, 82% now support rejoining the European Union. In Zach Polanski\u2019s Green Party it is 87%, and in Ed Davey\u2019s Liberal Democrats 75%.<\/p>\n
Given that the Greens and Lib Dems are the principal beneficiaries of Labour\u2019s recent shedding of support, this may explain the government\u2019s new conviction that closer ties with Europe are not just desirable, but essential.<\/p>\n
It was all foreseeable. Since mid-2021, the lines on the YouGov question \u201cwas Brexit a mistake?\u201d have diverged sharply (now 56% yes, 31% no) like the jaws of a crocodile. Wide enough to accommodate the head of any flip-flopping, weathervane PM.<\/p>\n
In the 2024 election campaign, Keir Starmer pledged to \u201cmake Brexit work\u201d. No single market. No customs union. No freedom of movement. Rejoining? Not even mentioned.<\/p>\n
This was a 180-degree reversal from his backing of a second referendum. Now, the pirouette is almost complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrexit did deep damage,\u201d Rachel Reeves said in her Mais lecture last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrexit has significantly hurt our economy,\u201d the prime minister says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wes Streeting, David Lammy and Angela Rayner all made interventions urging a meaningful reset of Britain\u2019s relationship with the EU.<\/p>\n
Most clearly, London mayor Sadiq Khan set out a bold, if obvious, route for Labour to draw clear electoral water between itself and Reform and the Conservatives, still tethered to the albatross of Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should, as a Labour party, fight the next general election with a clear manifesto commitment; a vote for Labour means we would rejoin the European Union. I think it\u2019s inevitable,\u201d Khan argued.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the obvious strategic play, but it may be too late for Labour, who have squandered so much electoral capital appeasing Brexit-inclined Red Wall voters while taking their natural Europhile support for granted. Now, suddenly, they find themselves fourth in\u00a0the polls.<\/p>\n
In our very first issue, Jonathan Freedland wrote of our ambition to make \u201ca positive case for Europe and Britain\u2019s place in it.\u201d Note the order of that ambition. First, a positive case for Europe.<\/p>\n
The EU today is not the EU of 2016. As Heraclitus observed, no one steps in the same river twice, and much water has flowed since the referendum. The world has changed.<\/p>\n
The EU has been reshaped by crisis: Putin\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Trump\u2019s hostility towards Europe and Nato, and the resurgence of national populism within its own member states.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Macron\u2019s vision of an assertive, geopolitically strong Europe sits uneasily alongside Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s insistence on a looser, sovereignty-first federation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a macrocosm of the political tensions we are experiencing in the UK. Which brings us to the second question: Britain\u2019s place within it; not just limply rejoining but shaping a new EU.<\/p>\n
This is the debate that Labour, whoever leads it, needs to open now. With candour, transparency, and both an open mind to the complaints that led to the Brexit vote in the first place and a clear-eyed view of Britain\u2019s reality in this new world.<\/p>\n
We need a national debate to produce a national vision: one replacing the undeliverable promises of Brexit with an understanding of how this country, with all its history, ability and potential, thrives again.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a question of Rejoining the institution we left ten years ago, but of Joining a new institution where our membership is inextricable with the EU\u2019s success. And it\u2019s the outcome of that debate that should determine the winner of the next general election, not some regressive, regretful retreat to the position of 2016 that, in any case, no longer exists.<\/p>\n
Matt Kelly, editor-in-chief<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years ago \u2013\u00a0ten years that feel both like ten months and ten decades \u2013 this magazine launched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,619,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-847103","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-rachel-reeves","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116284250275597748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847103","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=847103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}