The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published a report on Monday, 19 October, arguing that Britain should make full EU membership its "medium-term" goal. The think tank, which has close links to Labour, says shifts in global politics over the past decade leave the UK short of the scale it needs to act alone. In its view, Britain on its own lacks the weight to counter Moscow's expansionism, Washington's unpredictability and Beijing's pressure. The report calls the government's effort to stay close to both the United States and Europe a survival tactic rather than a route to success. It was published a few weeks after a similar paper from the Tony Blair Institute. Harry Quilter-Pinner, the IPPR's executive director, put the argument bluntly:
“The world Britain built its post-Brexit strategy for no longer exists.”
New polling commissioned by the IPPR and Persuasion UK found that 52% of respondents wanted to rejoin the EU, against 29% who wanted to stay out. Among Labour voters considering a switch to Reform UK, 54% wanted to return, compared with 36% who wanted to keep out. The Independent, citing the same research, put the split at 64 to 36 among those who expressed a view. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, told the Sunday Express that Britain would not "vote to rejoin" in a second referendum, and vowed that he and others would fight any Labour step towards reversing Brexit. Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader who has called rejoining the only patriotic thing to do, backed the IPPR's call and said:
“As the IPPR says and every sensible citizen knows, the world has changed traumatically in 10 years.”
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Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will set out the possibilities for Britain's long-term relationship with Europe at the UK-EU summit in Brussels on 20 November, with rejoining likely among them. At the Labour conference in September he said it was "possible" the next manifesto could include an in-out referendum on EU membership, and that he would look at other options taking Britain closer to the bloc. The timeline marks the report and the summit.
Mihir Sharma, a principal research fellow at the IPPR, told The i Paper that Burnham needs to make a positive case for rejoining and could secure a mandate through another referendum or a clear manifesto commitment. Sharma acknowledged that questions such as whether the UK would join the euro will be difficult, but said they can be overcome. Ministers have resisted picking a side, arguing they can keep strong ties with both Washington and European capitals.
Attention has centred on whether the UK's car industry could join the EU's "Made in Europe" scheme, which favours European companies in public procurement and subsidies. The government has described such a move as welcome, though it would likely mean aligning with EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The i Paper reports that Brussels is working on a plan to let British people under 30 work across the continent under a youth mobility scheme. A wider set of reset agreements covering food and drink, trade and carbon markets is hoped to be agreed too. The IPPR argues that individual deals alone will not be enough.
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The IPPR says Britain should treat EU membership as a medium-term goal, and polling it commissioned shows 52% of respondents wanting to rejoin. Burnham is set to outline long-term options at a Brussels summit on 20 November.
AI text based on reports by LBC, Mediafax.ro, The Telegraph and other publishers. Published .