Ex-Brexit Official Calls for UK-EU Rejoining Discussions

Philip Rycroft, the former permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, stated that Britain should start talking about rejoining the EU. He said the argument was there to be won about going back into Europe. Rycroft added that a clear-headed appraisal of what is in the country’s best interests was needed, though rejoining the bloc could be a long and windy road.

In an article for the Times, Rycroft wrote that most economic analysis suggests the UK has taken a significant hit to GDP as a result of leaving the single market. He stated that the promises of the Brexit campaign on issues from economics to immigration had not lived up to expectations.

Rycroft also noted that the great promise of a comprehensive trade deal with the USA now seems like an impossible dream.

Rycroft further stated that with a hot war on the European mainland perpetrated by a revanchist Russia and an increasingly disengaged America, the UK must look to solidarity with friends and neighbours in Europe to secure defences. He concluded that the argument is there to be won and it is time to talk about rejoining the EU and might be time to knock on the EU’s door.

The Guardian reported these details from Rycroft's comments.

A number of cabinet ministers want Keir Starmer to push harder on trying to join a customs union or the single market. In January, the prime minister said the UK should consider even closer alignment with the single market, which was preferable to a customs union. He added that if it’s in our national interest then the UK should consider that and go that far.

Concerns were raised at the European parliament on Thursday over EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in Europe post Brexit. MEPs heard about worries over the rights of children born to EU citizens in the UK but who did not know they had to apply for settled status.

Michal Meduna, a senior official in the European Commission’s post-withdrawal agreement unit, said the UK approach has significant consequences for newborn children, resulting in very high healthcare charges.

The Home Office ended funding for charities assisting vulnerable EU citizens making late applications for settlement. Settled, one of the charities, will say in a report published next week that it is seeing hundreds of requests for advice every week. The UK government spent £32m since 2019 to help charities.

Aliza Dee, the deputy head of justice and home affairs at the EU relations secretariat in the Cabinet Office, told the parliament that now that fewer applications are being made and with fewer organisations operating in that space, now is the right moment to bring an end to that particular tranche of funding.

She stated that alternative forms of support do exist in the UK, for example, the settlement scheme resolution centre. 2 million British people living in the EU in 27 countries.

British in Europe told the parliament it had no funding from the UK. Fiona Godfrey and Jane Golding, principals of British in Europe, are now working on an unpaid basis. Fiona Godfrey and Jane Golding said they would call on the British government to fund the work that is needed to be done for the support of British citizens living in the EU, because that has not been forthcoming.

The Guardian reported on these developments from the European parliament hearing, which the Home Office attended. Anti-Brexit protesters gathered outside the Houses of Parliament in April, as captured in photographs, amid ongoing debates over the UK's relationship with Europe.