Ten years on, more Britons back rejoining the EU, but Labour still will not say it
New polling suggests voters, especially across Labour’s progressive base, are more open to rejoining the EU than the party leadership is prepared to admit.
Ten years after the Brexit referendum, Labour faces a problem it has worked hard to avoid. The party wants the economic gains of a closer relationship with the European Union without reopening the political conflict that Brexit left behind. That balancing act is starting to look less secure.
Polling published alongside new research found that 53% of voters support rejoining the EU. Support was far higher among parties on Labour’s progressive flank and within its own coalition, reaching 83% among Labour voters, 84% among Liberal Democrats and 82% among Greens.
By contrast, although 61% backed the government’s current approach to EU relations, only 19% did so strongly. That is not a solid endorsement. It is a sign that Labour’s position is being accepted more out of caution than conviction.
That matters because the government’s strategy depends on drawing closer to Brussels in practice while refusing the institutions that would give that approach democratic and political coherence. Ministers want lower trade friction and closer regulatory alignment in selected sectors, but they still rule out both single market membership and a return to the EU.
The result is an increasingly awkward settlement. Britain can choose to follow more European rules in aligned areas, but from outside the structures where those rules are made. That may ease some of the damage caused by Brexit, yet it also entrenches a politics of rule-taking without representation.
Labour’s silence on Europe once looked disciplined. It now looks more like a temporary shelter from an argument that is returning anyway. The question is no longer whether the old Brexit divide can be ignored. It is how long Labour can ask voters to accept a European strategy that it still will not fully defend.
GOING FURTHER
More than half of Britons support rejoining EU 10 years on from Brexit vote | THE GUARDIAN
Ten years after Brexit, this is the UK: a divided nation frozen in time | THE GUARDIAN
Starmer’s UK-EU reset suffering from ‘lack of direction’, MPs warn | FINANCIAL TIMES
Rachel Reeves warned that more than warm words are needed to woo the EU | FINANCIAL TIMES
Minister for EU Relations - Article on UK-EU Reset | GOV.UK
UK-EU reset lacks “direction, definition and drive” | UK PARLIAMENT
UK–EU reset agreement | INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT
EU-UK relations: Will 2026 be the year to reset the reset? | CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN REFORM
Sources:
▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 18 April 2026.
▪ Cover: Dreamstime/KORWEN.
