Labour Reopens EU Debate After 58% Back Rejoin, as Streeting Calls Brexit a Catastrophic Mistake
Updated
Updated · TIME · Jun 13
Labour Reopens EU Debate After 58% Back Rejoin, as Streeting Calls Brexit a Catastrophic Mistake
3 articles · Updated · TIME · Jun 13
Summary
58% of likely voters now support rejoining the EU, and 84% of Labour voters do, giving fresh force to an internal Labour debate after Wes Streeting called Brexit a “catastrophic mistake.”
Streeting’s intervention came after Labour’s poor May local-election showing and amid leadership speculation, but he offered no concrete rejoin plan beyond saying Britain’s future lies in Europe.
Brexit’s economic drag is sharpening the argument: Rachel Reeves has cited an 8% hit to UK GDP, while gains from the government’s current EU “reset” talks are forecast at well under 1%.
Those talks have also stalled, with a second UK-EU summit slipping from May and June toward July as disputes persist over youth mobility, legal alignment and the €150 billion SAFE defense scheme.
Any push to go further would face hard trade-offs: Brussels wants the UK to choose established models such as a customs union, single-market membership or full re-entry, and renewed EU membership could cost about £5 billion more a year without Britain’s old rebate.
A decade after Brexit, is rejoining the EU the UK's only viable path to economic recovery?
As US security guarantees fade, is a closer EU relationship now a strategic necessity for Britain?
Majority of Britons Support Rejoining EU: Labour’s Dilemma and the Economic, Political, and Social Hurdles Ahead
Overview
By mid-2026, the United Kingdom is once again deeply debating its relationship with the European Union. This renewed focus is driven by the ongoing impacts of Brexit, including negative economic consequences and unexpected rises in immigration. These changes have influenced public opinion and led to the growth of parties like Reform UK. At the same time, internal struggles within the Labour Party add to the complexity. While the public remains divided, there is a growing openness to closer alignment with the EU, especially to improve trade, but concerns about sovereignty and immigration still shape the national conversation.