At last. The Prime Minister has said it, … the U.K. must ‘confront the reality’ that the deal struck with Brussels post-Brexit ‘significantly hurt our economy..’ Hoo bloody ray.
Next year marks a decade since the disastrous referendum and five years since we left the EU. A decade of lost opportunity, uncertainty, bitterness and friction not just between Remainers and Leavers but between the UK and our closest neighbours. Europe and Brexit has done for every Tory leader since Thatcher, cost every one of us dearly in terms of investment, reputation and financial security, access to medicine, culture, travel and business. Brexit meant the end of skilled workers moving between EU countries, students, musicians and artists likewise and a surge in non-EU immigration.
Polls out earlier this year showed that most people think Brexit was a mistake but we’ve spent the last few years tiptoeing around what was an utter disaster for fear of upsetting those who fell for Johnson’s lies and voted to Leave. Anyone who’s fallen prey to a scam doesn’t need to be told how daft they were but enough time has surely passed that we can have a sensible conversation about closer links with Europe. (I’m not including the Mail or Telegraph in that because to them even the idea of a day trip to Calais is tantamount to treason and a betrayal of the referendum.)
Ironically it’s Trump and Putin who’ve put our relationship with Europe back on the agenda. The threat of war in Europe is very real, bleakly illustrated by the continuing death and destruction in Ukraine – both France and Germany are now looking at some type of call up for young people if not expressly conscription. Concerns about Erasmus have been replaced by conferences about defence and security across the bloc. Trump’s on-off bromance with Putin, his tariffs, obvious disdain for Europe, NATO and pressure to raise defence spending alongside his very clear indication that Europe cannot rely on the USA has forced a closer and more urgent working relationship between European partners. Kier Starmer has been at the forefront, extremely effective, moving swiftly and adroitly in stark contrast to his stuttering performance in running the country at home.
Starmer’s government has been beyond disappointing on so many levels but the urgency of closer ties with Europe is compelling and could just provide him with a mission that’d be broadly welcomed. For sure, Labour needs to step up its attacks on Reform but if the Prime Minister is finally prepared to admit that Brexit has caused us such damage, instead of focusing on Nigel Farage’s alleged schoolboy behaviour, isn’t it time to remind people that it was the Reform leader who gave us Brexit and then walked away, rather like David Cameron.
