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A British Treasury minister has called the United Kingdom’s return to the EU “an inevitability”.
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Lord Spencer Livermore, the financial secretary to the treasury, said on Monday that reversing Brexit was “absolutely” in the UK’s “national economic interest” while also touting the government’s “reset” efforts with Brussels.
“Should we in due course reenter the European Union, well of course, my personal view is that that is an inevitability,” he told peers in the House of Lords. “Of course the UK will at one point reenter the European Union”.
“In the meantime, we are doing the European reset, and that is incredibly important in helping growth in our economy,” he added.
Embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to rebuild links with the EU and put the UK “at the heart of Europe,” fuelling accusations from the opposition that he is attempting to “unpick” Brexit.
The UK voted to leave the bloc in 2016 following a divisive referendum campaign that centred on controlling immigration, funding the UK’s National Health Service, and the idea of retaking parliamentary sovereignty.
The decision to quit the EU has come back under the spotlight in recent weeks, as senior Labour Party figures have sought to reignite the debate as they jostle for position ahead of a potential leadership contest.
Speaking at the Labour Party’s Progress conference last month, former health secretary Wes Streeting called the Brexit vote a “catastrophic mistake” as he announced he would stand in any leadership race.
“It’s left us less wealthy, less powerful and less in control than at any point before the industrial revolution,” Streeting said.
“We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future lies with Europe, and one day, one day, back in the European Union,” he added.
In February, London mayor Sadiq Khan said Starmer should go further with his reset.
“Brexit was the biggest act of economic self-harm any country’s ever done. My ultimate goal is for us to rejoin and I think it will happen in my lifetime,” he said.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the main opposition Conservatives, said Labour’s return to the issue was “a sign of a Labour party that does not have a plan for the country.”
“They want to go back and refight wars which were settled a long time ago,” she said.
