Britain should rejoin the European Union without a second referendum, says senior London Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry.
She believes that reversing Brexit should be put in Labour’s manifesto at the next general election, expected in 2029, and then voters can make a choice. New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has put all options on the table, including going back into the Customs Union, the Single Market or fully rejoining the European bloc.
Growing calls for return
London Mayor Lord Sadiq Khan is leading growing calls for the UK to return to the European Union. The Government’s move has sparked a backlash from the Tories and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
But Dame Emily, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, stressed that rebuilding ties with the EU was not a “sacred cow”.
“Why shouldn't we talk about it when the majority of people agree with me that Brexit was a disaster, and we ought to get back into the European Union,” she told Sky News.
Manifesto choice
Pressed on how she could justify rejoining the EU without another referendum, she added: “Well, we need to have a democratic decision, so we ought to be putting it somehow.
“I don't think we need to have another referendum, but what we can do is have it in the manifesto, and then people can have a choice.
“I would say let's not bother with another referendum. Let's just have it as a general election (issue).”
Dame Emily spoke out as MPs in London, which voted in 2016 by 60/40 to remain in the EU, lined up to slam Brexit on their first day back in Parliament.
MPs slam Brexit
Deirdre Costigan, Labour MP for Ealing Southall, told how millions of people who voted Leave had been “bombarded with lies, from the mythical £350 million a week for the NHS that never appeared to the lie that immigration would come down when it actually trebled”.
Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, stressed that some local businesses had been forced to close by the economic impact of quitting the EU. Marsha De Cordova, Labour MP for Battersea, branded Brexit “an unmitigated disaster that has left us poorer”, with the Office for Budget Responsibility saying it had wiped billions off UK trade.
Mr Burnham has made clear he wants to rebuild ties with Brussels, emphasising that deals at a UK-EU summit on November 20 could eventually boost Britain’s economy by £10 billion a year. He also accused Russia of trying to interfere in the Brexit vote but not to have been successful in swaying its result.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch criticised Mr Burnham for seeking to “unpick” the original Brexit deal. But Alex Freudmann, managing director of M&S Food, said a deal to cut red tape for food and drink would mean “fresher food and fuller shelves” for customers while “lifting the pressure of the weekly shop”.
