The civil servant who led Britain’s preparations for leaving the EU has called on political leaders to open a debate over rejoining the bloc, as he declared “Brexit is not done”.
Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out reversing Labour’s election manifesto pledge to honour Brexit, but Philip Rycroft, who was permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, told The Independent there was a case to be won on rejoining the EU, adding it was time for a sensible national debate on Britain’s best interests.
He argued there had been dramatic world changes since the referendum 10 years ago, and that assumptions made then had been “badly hit” by geopolitical events, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its threat to western Europe.
The UK, he said, was also poorer as a result of leaving the single market on trade, with long-term estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting a 4 per cent loss in UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth after 15 years.
Calling for a debate on Britain’s future relationship with the EU, including rejoining the union, Mr Rycroft, who has also written for The Independent today, said: “Brexit is not done, Brexit will never be done.
“We can never not have these debates because they are so critical to our economic, defence and security future.
“In the interest of the British public, ultimately, I am saying I think that our political class do have a responsibility to seek the opportunities, to seek to open out these questions in a way that gives the public the chance to think through where they believe our long-term interests lie.”
Mr Rycroft’s comments chime with a growing feeling within the Labour Party. Despite resisting crossing red lines on joining a customs union or the single market, Sir Keir has come under pressure to pursue a closer relationship with the EU.
Last month, he vowed to set a “new direction for Britain” with tighter links with the bloc ahead of an EU summit next month.
Wes Streeting, Sir Keir’s former health secretary and one of the frontrunners to succeed the prime minister if a leadership challenge is triggered, has said the UK should rejoin the bloc. Another leadership contender, Andy Burnham, has held back on EU support as he campaigns for a by-election in Makerfield, which voted strongly in favour of leaving the EU in 2016.
Mr Rycroft’s intervention comes as The Independent has launched a campaign to rebuild the UK’s relationship with Europe.
However, there is also strong feeling against tightening the relationship, with Reform UK, which is against any way back, continuing to perform well in the polls.
Mr Rycroft said: “We are a European country; our future lies ineluctably in Europe because that’s where we are, and we have to find a path forward where the vast majority of people in this country accept that the relationship that we’re in or we’re heading towards is one that is in the UK’s interests.
“I would love to wave a magic wand to get us to that point, but I absolutely recognise this is deeply contested territory. A lot of people think that we have a different sort of path ahead of us, which doesn’t relate to our European-ness. Good luck to them, but let’s have that debate.
“We’re still, frankly, living through the afterburn of what was a very difficult and divisive referendum, but we have to start thinking about what the long-term future looks like, and to do so in a dispassionate, honest sort of way that doesn’t slip back into some of those rather old, boring remain-leave arguments.”
Ahead of the UK-EU summit, UK officials pitched a single market for goods trade with the EU. But the move was rejected, reported The Guardian, in favour of a suggestion that the UK join a customs union.
Sir Keir faces a challenge in striking a pick-and-choose deal, without revisiting manifesto promises to rejoin the EU single market or customs union, or to end freedom of movement.
Mr Rycroft said rejoining the EU would be a “tough road with lots of compromises, lots of difficult decisions”, but also warned of the risk of Russia’s “threat on democratic way of life” and the uncertain relationship with the US. The UK could not solely rely on its Commonwealth and Anglosphere to deal with issues currently faced, he said.
He said: “The UK’s interests are congruent with the interests of the EU. Therefore, the closer we are to the development of the initiatives around the European economy, European defence, the more it is in our interests.
“Some people would contest that. That’s absolutely fine and I know this is contested territory, but the risk is that if we don’t follow our European vocation, we find ourselves isolated in the world, less able to pursue our economic and defence interests, and therefore, relatively speaking, poorer as a nation and less able to assert our influence and our interests on a global basis.”
Surveys by researchers Best for Britain found that 53 per cent of people polled supported a full return to the EU. Mr Rycroft said that ratio had to reach 70 per cent before the idea was taken seriously, and that, he added, “could take some time”.