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Author Archives: Andrew Kerr

We cannot be a rejoin party. At most we can be a reapply party.

By Andrew Kerr | Mon 25th January 2021 - 12:59 pm

Like many of our members, I joined the most pro European party soon after the 2016 EU referendum, and am bitterly disappointed at how things have gone since, and am frustrated at the lack of short term prospect of reversing what I am convinced is an historic mistake. I’d be delighted if this party were to pledge to rejoin (for example, as the price of membership of a coalition government), but the sad reality is that this wouldn’t be credible .

The problem is that the EU gets a say too. And unless it sees a stable majority in favour of EU membership, that say will be “no” – it won’t want to risk a Brexit 2.0 a few years down the line.

Even if it doesn’t say “no”, the membership terms are going to be debated. This doesn’t necessarily imply adopting the Euro or joining Schengen, but the budget rebate and other opt outs are at risk.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged eu membership | 78 Comments

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