Could the UK rejoin the EU without another referendum?
asks: Our media, especially the print media, is the same as it was 10 years ago. Even if there was another referendum in 10 years, we will still have the same media who were for Brexit be against rejoining, and the same old bendy bananas “arguments”. Wouldn’t it be better to have re-entry as a manifesto pledge and just do it, rather than risk another generational referendum?
Raf: I think it would be hard to enact anything as significant as rejoining the EU without a referendum and, for the reasons you say, there would have to be a very clear and solid majority in favour before even embarking on a campaign. But that would be a condition of starting the negotiations with Brussels anyway. The EU is not going to be interested in a serious process to hammer out terms of UK membership 2.0 if it looks like a knife-edge issue in domestic politics. European leaders were burned enough by the first referendum and by the spectacle of Donald Trump coming back after four years of Joe Biden. So, in a way, the question of whether or not to have a referendum is barely relevant. If you have completely won the key political arguments in favour of Britain being part of the European project again and its not even controversial any more, you can have the vote, and if you haven’t made that kind of progress, you won’t be in a position to try your luck with a plebiscite.
But I do think there is path that involves a party winning a general election with a pledge to open talks on joining the EU and that election victory being used as the lever to really shift the dial in public debate. As with so many of these scenarios, a really talented communicator as leader and media strategy fit for the fragmented, polarised digital climate are key.
Welcome to the Conversation
Welcome to our latest Q&A with a journalist. Raf will be joining us at 5pm. We have originally asked him to take questions about Brexit as we mark 10 years since the UK’s vote to leave the EU. But … you may well have questions about the last 48 hours as looks certain to become the next prime minister.
In the meantime, though, Andrew Sparrow is covering another busy and dramatic day in Westminster on the and here’s some more on the end of Keir Starmer’s premiership:
And … here’s some of the best of our coverage marking 10 years since the UK voted to leave the European Union. to join the discussion and post your questions.
