MPs lined up to label Britain’s exit from the European Union a “disaster” in a House of Commons debate on Monday evening.
Labour MP Stella Creasy vowed at the outset of her speech to speak plainly about the impact of Brexit, which she rubbished as “a disaster by anybody’s metric.”
In one of several swipes at Nigel Farage during the debate, held in Westminster Hall, Creasy said: “If the honourable member for Clacton [Farage] was in the country, I am sure that he would be telling all of us that we need straight talking, so let us have some straight talking.”
Creasy, who serves as chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, added: “Brexit is a disaster. It is a disaster by anybody’s metric, not least those according to whom it was purported to be a route to the promised land.”
The comment came as MPs discussed a successful e-petition relating to the UK re-joining the European Union. At the time of the debate, the petition had accumulated around 134,000 signatures, surpassing the threshold needed for it to be considered for a debate in parliament.
The petition states: “I believe joining the EU would boost the economy, increase global influence, improve collaboration and provide stability [and] freedom. I believe that Brexit hasn’t brought any tangible benefit and there is no future prospect of any, that the UK has changed its mind and that this should be recognised.”
The minister on duty, Abena Oppong-Asare, nonetheless rejected the key ask of the petition, underlining the government’s position that the UK will “not seek to rejoin the EU.”
The Cabinet Office minister added: “Nor will there be a return to freedom of movement, the customs union or the single market, as we set out in our general election manifesto. That was a clear commitment ahead of the election, in which the government secured a significant majority.”
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During the debate, it was noted by a number of MPs that representatives from Farage’s Reform UK party were not present to set out their party’s case.
Labour MP Neil Coyle, intervening on petitions committee member Paul Davies who was introducing the debate, told the chamber: “I support rejoining and always opposed leaving, for the reasons around national security and our national interest that my honourable friend outlined.
“Is he surprised that there are no Reform members present in the chamber, and does he believe that that is because they spend more time sucking up to Trump and Putin than representing their constituents, in particular those in Clacton?”
Fred Thomas, the Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View, described Brexit as “an almost unmitigated disaster” in his contribution.
But he added: “The Labour party manifesto said that we will not go back into the EU, the customs union or the single market. That is the manifesto that I and all of us on this side of the chamber stood on.”
Independent MP Rosie Duffield, whose speech Thomas had risen to intervene on, responded: “There are plenty of things that the Labour government seem to be pushing through that were not in the manifesto.
“The people now in charge were campaigning, with those of us who were here then, against Brexit several years ago, and I would like them to stick to that.”
Tim Roca, the Labour MP for Macclesfield, stated that he still “wholeheartedly” believes Britain should rejoin the EU.
He continued: “That is our future, and debates like this are part of that process. People need be under no illusion that this issue is going away; as the petitioners and those supporting them prove, this debate is ongoing in the country.
“There is also strong support, as the polling evidence shows, that the public believe that we made a mistake.”
Roca was one of a number of MPs who called on the government to negotiate a youth mobility scheme with European Union.
Citing areas for the government to focus on in its “reset” of UK-EU relations, the Labour MP said: “Let us look at the youth mobility scheme, let us join the pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention and ease barriers to trade, and let us lay the groundwork for a proper debate on where the future of this country should be.”
Tom Hayes, the Labour MP for Bournemouth East agreed, adding: “Does [he] agree that alongside a youth mobility scheme we should consider getting rid of some of that Brexit red tape so that we can strengthen that sector, and bring younger people… to Britain so that they can enjoy all of what our great country has?”
Later in the debate, Labour MP Phil Brickell insisted that a youth mobility scheme does not impinge on the government’s “red lines”.
He said: “Youth mobility does not provide a pathway to citizenship, it is not freedom of movement and it does not provide for financial dependency on the state.”
Responding on this specific point in her contribution, the minister, Oppong-Asare, said: “We do not have plans for a youth mobility agreement. We will of course listen to sensible proposals, but we have been clear that there will be no return to freedom of movement, the customs union or the single market.”
Caroline Voaden, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, said the government must take “concrete steps” towards rejoining the EU.
She commented: “I do not agree that we should not revisit our intentions, given the clear evidence that we now have of the disaster that Brexit has been…
“Sadly, it is probably too early to campaign to rejoin the EU right now—it is not even an option on the table—but we must take concrete steps towards it, rather than just repeating meaningless warm words, and start rebuilding the shattered relationship.”
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “The Liberal Democrats are proud to be the country’s most pro-European party, and we have been vocal in our support for the government’s warm words on a reset and a rebuilding of our relationship with Europe after the disaster of the botched Brexit deal under the last Conservative government.
“We are, however, concerned that those warm words are not leading to action.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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Source: Politics
