![\"Wes](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Progress-conference.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe former health secretary has indicated his intention to stand to become the next leader of the Labour Party and made a speech nearly 10 years after the vote to leave the EU<\/p>\n
Wes Streeting speaking at the Progress Conference(Image: Jeff Moore\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who has indicated his intention to stand to become the next leader of the Labour<\/a> Party, has said Britain should re-join the European Union<\/a>. The Member of Parliament for Ilford North, who recently resigned from his position in prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet, with what is widely anticipated to lead up to a leadership challenge.<\/p>\n The United Kingdom officially left the European Union on January 31, 2020, which Mr Streeting said has left the country “less wealthy, less powerful and less in control.”<\/p>\n Speaking at the Progress think tank\u2019s conference in London on Saturday, Mr Streeting was asked if he would run in a contest to succeed the Prime Minister, he also said: “Leaving the European Union was a catastrophic mistake. The Vote Leave campaign deluded itself into thinking the UK could forge free trade nirvana, as if we still had the east India company at our disposal.” Stay in the know by making sure you\u2019re receiving our daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Adding: “They were totally blind to the zero-sum world the extreme right and their fellow travellers were creating. A dog-eat-dog world of dictators and oligarchs where middle powers going it alone is a fantasy.<\/p>\n “It’s left us less wealthy, less powerful, and less in control that at any point before the industrial revolution.<\/p>\n “We can no longer afford to be silent about it. We must remake the argument. In 2026, the British people increasingly see that in a dangerous world we must club together, both to rebuild our economy and trade and improve our defence against the shared threats from Russian aggression and the retreat of America first.<\/p>\n “The biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep. We need a new special relationship with the EU<\/a>, because Britain’s future lies with Europe, and one day back in the European Union.”<\/p>\n It was his first public appearance since resigning as health secretary, and he set out a fledgling policy platform for a run at the Labour leadership.<\/p>\n He said Britain must pursue a \u201cnew special relationship\u201d with the European Union and signalled he wanted to see the country rejoin the trade bloc in the future.<\/p>\n Mr Streeting is among the senior Labour figures to call for a debate over the future of the party\u2019s soul, amid the crisis that has engulfed it after a bruising set of election results across England, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n His intervention comes after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was cleared to run for selection to be the candidate in the Makerfield by-election.<\/p>\n Mr Burnham has said he is prepared to \u201cfight to the highest level\u201d, as he and other senior Labour figures jostle to lead the party in the future.<\/p>\n Mr Streeting also said he did have enough support among MPs to trigger a contest, but suggested his challenge would \u201clack legitimacy\u201d without Mr Burnham being given a chance to return to Parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cThat might have been the self-interested thing to do for candidates who are in Parliament presently, but it wasn\u2019t in the party\u2019s interest and wasn\u2019t in the national interest,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n On Friday night, Mr Burnham was granted permission by Labour\u2019s ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), to stand in the selection process for the Makerfield by-election.<\/p>\n Mr Streeting was among those who have backed Mr Burnham\u2019s bid to fight the impending by-election, which was triggered when Josh Simons announced he would down as an MP to give Mr Burnham a chance to return to Parliament.<\/p>\n The Mayor of Greater Manchester told Channel 4 News on Saturday morning he was focused on winning a seat in Parliament, rather than ousting Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just not the issue. The issue is winning. Winning a by-election with what I\u2019m saying, you know, it\u2019s not about, you know, necessarily the next thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But Mr Burnham said he had \u201cmade a whole career fighting for people in this part of the world\u201d, later adding: \u201cI\u2019ve taken that fight to another level as mayor and yes, I will carry on taking that fight to the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n A \u201cbig change moment is needed\u201d in British politics, he also said, following a bruising set of elections for Labour in England, Scotland, and Wales.<\/p>\n Mr Burnham elsewhere told the BBC<\/a> he wants to run in the Makerfield by-election to \u201csave\u201d Labour.<\/p>\n He said Labour must acknowledge it has \u201cnot been good enough\u201d and \u201crequires a lot of change\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to see this as a moment to reclaim the Labour Party<\/a>, to save it from where it\u2019s been. We can\u2019t just carry on as we are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A Labour leadership contest is not yet taking place, as the internal party process which would lead to one has not been triggered.<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news<\/strong> updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former health secretary has indicated his intention to stand to become the next leader of the Labour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":966346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,528,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-966345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-labour-party","13":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116589245541400870","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966345","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=966345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}