For years, it felt like the only thing Westminster talked about. I have had a ringside seat at it all, from the Conservative election victory in 2015, with the party's promise in its manifesto that year to offer "a straight in-out referendum on our membership of the European Union by the end of 2017." Then there was the then Prime Minister David Cameron's negotiation with the European Union to try to secure what he saw as a better deal and then the referendum itself on Thursday, 23 June 2016. And that, you will remember, was merely the start, as years of wrangling began.
Two general elections came and went in 2017 and 2019 and it took the two prime ministers after David Cameron, first Theresa May and then Boris Johnson, before the UK left the European Union at 23:00 on Friday, 31 January 2020. Little wonder perhaps that by that point, almost irrespective of someone's views on the topic, there was an appetite to talk about something else. Political parties picked up that vibe and while their long standing instincts on the EU were there to see if you scratched the surface, there was minimal desire to extemporise about them any time soon.
With the arrival of Andy Burnham as prime minister, that has changed, despite what he said just a few months before he arrived in Downing Street. He has been happy to repeatedly lean into an argument claiming that it is time to "face up to the reality that Brexit has done more harm than good" and "the status quo is not good enough for Britain." First he made this case at the Labour Party Conference last month and now he has made it again in the House of Commons. Burnham is attempting to make a two-pronged case.
First, in the short term, he wants to "deepen" the UK's relationship with the EU at a summit in Brussels at the end of next month. He insists such a deepening would be within the promise made by Labour at the last general election that the UK would say no to the customs union, the single market and freedom of movement. Which brings us onto the second element of his case, in the medium term.
What might Labour promise in its next general election manifesto? The prime minister told me a fortnight ago the manifesto could promise an in-out referendum. In the Commons, he sought to reassure you, whatever your view on Brexit.
"This country in the next decade needs to know where it's going. There are no assumptions here, and as I said, the British public will be the boss of whatever is decided," he said. Hang on, say critics, it was decided by voters a decade ago.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
