Sadiq Khan urges Labour to back return to EU
Sadiq Khan has called for Labour to campaign for the UK to rejoin the European Union, days after Rachel Reeves delivered one of the most Europhile speeches since Brexit.
The London Mayor said his party should move beyond discussions about access to the single market or joining the customs union by 2030, and instead move towards a campaign on returning to the economic bloc as he was “sure” Britons would back Labour.
He said “our fate is intertwined with Europe” and said President Trump’s unreliability gave cause for the UK to rejoin the EU.
“President Trump is imposing tariffs to friend and foe, creating huge economic uncertainty that was unforeseen at the last general election,” Khan told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
“Number two, America is involved with Israel in a war in Iran, causing huge additional economic uncertainty, affecting the price of oil, affecting the cost of living.
“The evidence has changed, which is why this parliament, we should rejoin the Customs Union and Single Market. I’m quite clear. On the ballot paper of the next General Election is a vote for Labour, a vote to rejoin the European Union, and we should be unequivocal about the benefits of the European because we’ve now seen the alternative.
“I think it’s inevitable.”
Khan bemoans Brexit effects
He said the economic effects London had experienced from Brexit “breaks my heart” as he cited the lower number of EU citizens in London and struggles across the hospitality and construction industries.
“As a consequence, we’ve suffered economically, in construction, hospitality, but also we’ve suffered socially and culturally.”
He added that Sir Keir Starmer “knows my views” though he had not raised the issue with the Prime Minister because he had been “busy being mayor”.
His arguments echoed some of the views shared by Reeves, who used her Mais Lecture to argue for closer ties with the economic bloc.
On Tuesday, Reeves said there was a risk that the UK found itself “stranded between powerful trading blocs as globalisation retreats” as she called for the country to develop closer economic ties with the EU.
“No trade deal with any individual nation can outweigh the importance of our relationship to a bloc with which we share a land border, with which our supply chains are closely intertwined, and it accounts for almost half our trade,” Reeves said.
“There is also a strategic imperative for deeper integration between the UK and EU – in our shared need for greater economic resilience.”
Reports have suggested that Number 10 economics adviser Minouche Shafik has pushed for the government to rejoin the customs union though other officials have been shy of committing to rejoining.