Former Brexit official urges debate on rejoining EU as Labour rules out reversal
Philip Rycroft, who led preparations for leaving the EU, said Brexit is not done and urged political leaders to open a national discussion on rejoining the bloc.
Philip Rycroft, who served as permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, said Brexit is not done and will never be done. He called on political leaders to open a debate on rejoining the EU. Rycroft told The Independent that assumptions made at the time of the 2016 referendum have been badly hit by geopolitical events, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said the UK is poorer as a result of leaving the single market, citing Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts of a 4 per cent loss in UK GDP growth after 15 years. “We can never not have these debates because they are so critical to our economic, defence and security future,” Rycroft said.
He added that rejoining the EU would be a tough road with lots of compromises and difficult decisions.
Rycroft stated that the UK’s interests are congruent with the interests of the EU. He said the ratio of public support for rejoining must reach 70 per cent before the idea is taken seriously. A Best for Britain survey found that 53 per cent of people polled supported a full return to the EU.
Rycroft said that level of support could take some time to reach. Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out reversing Labour’s election manifesto pledge to honour Brexit. A UK-EU summit is scheduled for July.
