Findings will bolster those in No 10 who want to negotiate on re-entry but some senior figures remain wary
Andy Burnham’s personal preference to rejoin the European Union after the next election is supported by almost half of all voters, a new megapoll has found, although cabinet ministers concerned about reopening Brexit divides are privately urging him to proceed with caution.
The poll by the Messina Group (TMG) found that renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU could boost Labour’s vote share by as much as seven points, if the prime minister offered a fresh referendum in which he campaigned to re-enter the bloc.
Almost 1/3 of voters said an in-out referendum would be needed first, while more than one in six felt that a general election mandate would be sufficient, and the same proportion thought parliament could make the decision.
The overall findings will bolster the case of those inside Downing Street who want to promise at the next election that Labour would at least negotiate over re-entry, which the prime minister has said he wants to see “in his lifetime”.
We’re not rejoining the EU any time soon.
Andy Burnham deliberately did this to distract the right wing press from his proposals to abolish the “Triple Lock” on pensions; an expensive policy that benefits older people only by guaranteeing pensions rise by the highest of average earnings, inflation or 2.5% a year. He wants to make it a “double lock” and use the savings to fund social care.
By talking about possibly rejoining the EU (alongside other options - he effectively said he wouldn’t rule out rejoining) he’s managed to get the right wing eurosceptic press up in arms talking about this instead of the triple lock.
He is not going to actually follow through on the EU because that would be a gift to reform to fight the next election on that issue. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt Burnham does want us to rejoin the EU long term, but there is no way that is going to be a major issue in the next election. Expect any government proposals to be quietly displaced “until after the next election” as is the standard practice in UK politics to ignore a major topic.