Britain should consider rejoining the European Union after none of the Leave campaign’s “heady promises” materialised, the man who led the country’s departure from the bloc has said.
Philip Rycroft, former permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, said there needs to be a “clear-headed appraisal of what is in the country’s best interests” and that life outside the EU had not lived up to lofty expectations.
Writing in The Times, he warned the road back into the bloc would be “long and windy” but that the “argument is there to be won”.
The unusual intervention comes after Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would not cross the “red lines” of rejoining the single market or customs union.
But the newspaper reports several senior figures in government are pressing for the policy to be reviewed ahead of the next general election.
Mr Rycroft cited figures from recent YouGov polling for the campaign group Best for Britain, which shows that 53 per cent of people are now in favour of rejoining the EU while with 32 per cent are opposed and 14 per cent don’t know.
“Most economic analysis suggests that we have taken a significant hit to GDP as a result of leaving the single market,” he added.
“The precise number, and the impact on our export performance to the EU and beyond, might be subject to debate, but no one can credibly claim that we have marched to the sunny uplands of sustained economic growth as a consequence of Brexit.”
He said it was “not hard to see” why people may be “falling out of love” with Brexit.
“We are seemingly no nearer achieving an immigration policy that commands general consent,” he continued, in reference to the Leave campaign’s promise that leaving the bloc would allow the UK to take back control of its borders.
Last month, European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told The Independent “there is no appetite” to return to the debates of the past over EU membership.
While he insists that the government wants to develop closer ties with the EU, particularly as the world becomes a more dangerous place, Mr Thomas-Symonds ruled out any sort of deal that would lead to the UK and the EU entering a customs union.
He said that even a bespoke version, like the agreements the bloc has with countries like Turkey and Norway, is off the cards.