Andy Burnham's suggestion that Britain could rejoin the European Union has backfired, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch framing him as a Brexit bore rather than engaging in a re-run of past battles. Badenoch is alert for potential traps, knowing that millions of Britons worried about the spiralling cost of living will not look kindly on politicians who spend time refighting Brexit wars.
Her claim that the Labour leader "wants to drag Britain back into the tedious and divisive Brexit debates" is a canny move. Instead of defending deals negotiated by her predecessors, she presents Burnham as someone lacking a plan to tackle Britain's challenges today.
Badenoch's Strategy
The Conservative leader does not need to shout about Brexit to make her position clear. Voters know there is no chance of a Tory Government taking Britain back into the bloc; a party committed to pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights is not going to ask for an application form to rejoin. Nigel Farage has no hesitation in publicly defending the decision to leave the EU, and can hound Labour across the Leave-voting Red Wall.
Brexiteers are not frightened by opinion polls showing apparent pro-EU sentiment. YouGov last month found 59% backed rejoining – including 85% of Labour voters – with just 32% opposed. Veterans of the 2016 campaign are confident that once Britons face the prospect of a cash-strapped UK making a net contribution of billions to the EU Budget, adopting the euro, and returning to free movement, enthusiasm will melt.
A Battle of Ideas Looms
A genuine battle of ideas about Britain's future is looming. Influential think tanks and campaign groups push for the UK to return as a member state; former Thatcher aide Lord Redwood is at the heart of Britain Unbound, which argues for "continued independence outside the EU". There is talk of building a non-party political movement to raise grassroots Brexit champions.
An epic stand-off between Rejoiners and Brexiteers would remind everyone of the family rows, economic uncertainty, and parliamentary paralysis that gripped Britain before the referendum and in the years after. If Badenoch rises above the fray and casts Burnham as a pro-EU obsessive threatening turmoil, she can go into the election promising stability and lower taxes.
