It’s been almost a decade since the Brexit referendum when the Conservative Party – and the country – nearly tore itself apart over the decision about whether to leave the European Union. David Cameron and George Osborne, who campaigned for remain, pitched themselves against Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, who championed leave, and lost – beginning a seemingly never-ending revolving door of prime ministers.
Fast forward 10 years and it’s now the Labour Party that is in danger of becoming the latest victim of the Brexit wars – as the crisis engulfing it appears to have reignited a debate that was quietly already rumbling within the Cabinet.
The i Paper can reveal that behind the scenes some Cabinet ministers have been privately lobbying for the party to take a bolder stance on forging closer ties with the EU, with some even going as far as wanting the party to rejoin in a bid to reunite the party’s centre-left voter coalition.
It comes after Labour lost almost 1,500 seats in the local elections earlier this month, including a significant number of gains for the pro-European Green Party.
One Cabinet minister, who is in favour of rejoining the EU, said a more ambitious approach would help unite the progressive vote against Reform. “What we have seen is increasing support for the Greens, which even in seats which they cannot win, is pulling support away from us and making it harder for us to win,” they said. “We need to pursue the most ambitious deal possible with the EU.”
Another Cabinet minister, who is also in favour of rejoining the EU, said: “The Government needs to go bigger and faster in building closer ties to Europe. This is not just because that is where our voters are but would be a sound move economically. We should be throwing everything at getting the most ambitious deal rather than treading so carefully.”
However, other Cabinet ministers like Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, think it would be a mistake to re-open the debate. She told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “I campaigned for remain, I think it [Brexit] was a mistake, and I think the Brexit deal has been a real problem for us. But I don’t really understand why the sudden focus on Europe.
“We’re already, as a government, trying to repair in a pragmatic way the needless damage that was done by that poor Brexit deal to people’s living standards in towns like mine, without reopening the circular arguments that we ended up in as a country.”
Splits over Europe between party’s leadership rivals
It comes as splits over Europe have already begun to emerge between the party’s leadership rivals.Over the weekend, Andy Burnham’s allies accused Wes Streeting of trying to derail the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s by-election campaign by re-opening Labour’s old Brexit wounds and playing into the hands of Reform UK. Burnham supporters claim Streeting, who this weekend called for Britain to rejoin the EU, deliberately put the issue under the spotlight to sabotage the Manchester mayor’s chances of becoming an MP.
The i Paper revealed on Saturday that Burnham, was going to soften his stance on Brexit as he fought to win the seat of Makerfield, which was 75th most Leave-heavy voting seat in the country. He told MPs representing seats in the Red Wall last week that he would not be “going big on Europe.” Burnham has since confirmed today that he will not “rerun” Brexit arguments.
However, Streeting’s intervention has catapulted Brexit back into the headlines just as Nigel Farage’s Reform Party have made it clear that they intend to weaponise the issue during the by-election campaign. Writing for The Express newspaper on Monday, Farage said the upcoming contest in Makerfield will “become a flashpoint” in the Brexit battle, as he accused both Burnham and Streeting of “bowing down at the altar of the European project.”
Streeting has made light of his calls to rejoin the EU over the weekend and claims he was simply repeating a stance he has long held. He told The i Paper: “I have spoken about wanting to rejoin the European Union before. It’s not exactly a new position.”
But for some MPs, particularly in the constituencies that voted to leave the EU, it has reopened a debate they would rather not be having.
Discussions on rejoining the EU are ‘brainless’
Johnathan Hinder, the Labour MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, told the BBC that any discussions about rejoining the EU was “brainless.”
“This is not a priority for the British people,” he huffed. He said that if he suggested to is voters that rejoining the EU was the best solution to their problems, he would be met with incredulity, adding: “They would rightly look at me as if I’d gone mad, that I was off my rocker.”
David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, who in December suggested it could be beneficial for the UK to consider re-entering a customs union, on Monday called on Labour to pull back from “internecine warfare” over Europe. He warned that a bout of Labour infighting over Brexit would “damage” the party.
“I say to colleagues, 10 days of this [is] fine; 10 weeks of this and we’ll be in desperate trouble, out of office and we’ll be ushering in Farage,” Lammy said, adding: “Some of our colleagues are lighting the match and standing in the petrol.”
Lammy said that the party was elected 22 months ago on a manifesto to push for closer links with the EU, while sticking to the Brexit “red lines” not to join the customs union or single market.
However, only a week ago, Sir Keir Starmer appeared to leave the door open to ditching his red lines at the next general election.
In a defiant reset speech last week in the wake of a disastrous set of local election results, the Labour leader pledged to put Britain “at the heart of Europe” and “set a new direction” for the country by renewing ties to Brussels.
Challenged on whether that would include a promise to join the single market or the customs union in Labour’s next manifesto, Starmer did not rule it out.
Labour’s Brexit wars could hand ‘a gift to Farage’s Reform’
A Reform source told The i Paper that Starmer opening the door to the single market was the “perfect battle for us” because the EU will not allow the UK into the trade area without accepting free movement.
“Remainers always think they’ll win the battle until we actually start engaging in the argument, then they rapidly lose support,” the source said. “It’s like he wants us to win a majority.”
Officials in the Cabinet Office have for months been working up a plan for further alignment with the EU – an approach endorsed by Rachel Reeves in March when she cited a study suggesting Brexit had caused an 8 per cent hit to the economy.
The UK is currently negotiating with the EU to follow Brussels’ rules on food and drink trade, electricity and carbon taxes in return for single market access.
It comes with the EU demanding the UK regularly pays into the Brussels budget as the price of single market access, with some estimates suggesting this could be around £1bn a year, and a youth visa scheme to allow under-30s to move more freely between both sides with no hard cap on numbers. The EU is also pushing for lower university tuition fees for Europeans in Britain.
Rejoin in Labour manifesto ‘would turn election in new Brexit referendum’
A Government source said what was being offered is “pragmatic changes” that could reverse some of the worst side-effects of the Brexit deal – rather than reopening the rejoin debate. The source added: “Somehow Wes has successfully killed his own flagship policy stance, kicking off two days of party infighting without any plan or persuasive argument about why rejoin would be right. He’s left it to others to explain rejoin; possibly the Euro, possibly Schengen. I wouldn’t be surprised if those who have lobbied for rejoin are furious at the anger he’s caused towards their project.”
They added: “Rejoin in any manifesto would make the next election a de facto second referendum on the EU, doing nothing but re-entrenching a national divide and subjecting us all to a totally miserable debate, all while handing the election to Nigel Farage. And frankly Labour members want to beat Farage more than they want to rejoin EU.”
Positioning Starmer as the unity candidate on Europe in the event he is forced into a leadership contest, the source added: “Keir is focused on the tangible benefits of a new relationship and rapprochement, based on policy, rather than identity.”
They said the Prime Minister’s aims were to demonstrate how “Brexit has pressured everyday costs” and to focus on reducing import prices to “make Brexit work”, while avoiding a “polemic debate that only serves to divide the country.”
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