There is a speech I keep coming back to. In the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections, Charles Kennedy told the party conference something that cut right to the heart of our political identity. Europe, he said, was in the Liberal Democrats’ DNA. But for too long, he added with characteristic wit, that had stood for “do not acknowledge.” It was time, he argued, to be front-footed, unapologetic and proud in our pro-Europeanism.
Charles was right then. He would be even more right now.
Our current framing on Europe, centred on a customs union, is not just insufficient, it is actively working against us. The evidence to support that view is not anecdotal. It is there in black and white in the new Best for Britain report.
Drawing on YouGov polling of more than 4,000 adults, it contains findings that every Liberal Democrat parliamentarian and activist should read. EU membership is the most popular option with the British public, with 53% in favour and just 32% opposed. But it is among our own voters that the numbers are most striking. A full 84% of Liberal Democrat supporters back the UK rejoining the EU, the highest figure of any party grouping polled.
And here is the finding that should give us real pause. Among Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green voters, advocating a customs union or single market membership produces no political dividend whatsoever compared to the government’s current baseline position. In other words, there is no uplift for us from talking about a customs union. It does not excite our voters. It does not bring them out. It is a position that neither galvanises our base nor persuades anyone who is not already with us.
EU membership, by contrast, is the only option that actually increases support among our voters. It is not a marginal finding. That is a strategic signal we should not be ignoring.
So why are we not saying it?
I understand the caution. The Brexit years were brutal and scarring. There is a scar tissue that runs through this party on the question of how loudly to make the European case, and I do not dismiss the instinct toward care. But the political landscape has shifted fundamentally since those years. The economic damage of Brexit is now visible and documented. Public opinion has moved. And in a world reshaped by Trump’s tariffs, an emboldened Russia and a more dangerous international environment, the argument for Britain being in the room where decisions are made, rather than watching from outside, has never been stronger.
I am not suggesting it is the only policy we fight the next election on. What I am saying is that we should stop apologising for what we believe. We should be making the case for Britain’s future in the beating heart of Europe, not retreating into the bureaucratic language of trade arrangements and technical architecture that leaves most voters cold and our own supporters frustrated.
A customs union is not a vision. It is a footnote. Our voters want the chapter headings, and they want us to write them with confidence.
Charles Kennedy’s challenge to this party has not expired. Europe is in our DNA. It is long past time we started acknowledging it.
* Mark Blackburn was a PPC in 2020 and 2017
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9 Comments
Well said. We need to make a commitment to holding a fresh referendum on rejoining the EU a key manifesto pledge that will be a red-line for us in any future coalition negotiations that may happen after the next general election.
An excellent call to arms and welcome reminder of the Party’s soul. Public opinion has changed and pro-Europeans needs to react to this.
We are in Europe. So is Ukraine, Belarus, Norway, Switzerland, Monaco, the Isle of Man etc etc.
And so is the part of Russia that most Russians live in.
What’s your point, Peter? If it’s that Mark should’ve written the EU instead of Europe throughout his piece then that’s just pedantry. If it’s that you are pro-Brexit or pro the party being quiet on EU membership, state your case.
@ Lucy J
In answer to your question I do find it annoying that Remainers regularly use the term “Europe” when they really mean the EU. It’s not even an abbreviation. I’d argue that this is an attempt to portray the EU as something that it isn’t. We’re all European but we don’t all support the Treaties that constitute the EU. We all accept that the European countries are our neighbours and that it is desirable to be on good terms with them. So, there’s no reason we can’t be pro Europe at the same time as not wanting to be a part of the EU.
There are many reasons for this. Top of my list would be the so-called “Stability and Growth Pact”, which is a highly austerity inducing fiscal treaty which may, at times, suit Germany but it does not suit the UK at all. It is highly contradictory to claim, as many on the left do, that they are anti-austerity at the same time as being pro the EU.
Next on my list would be the anti democratic nature of the EU. Prior to the Greek dispute with the EU I would have voted Remain. Whatever the right and wrongs of the dispute it should have been resolved through the EU’s Courts and Parliament. Instead the German govt, which has no democratic legitimacy outside its own borders, acted as if it were the EU’s government!
https://www.socialeurope.eu/stability-or-stagnation-how-europes-fiscal-rules-are-strangling-growth
“Instead the German govt, which has no democratic legitimacy outside its own borders, acted as if it were the EU’s government!”
The Euro currency was designed with Germany in mind, so yes, Germany pretty much is the EU
So good to hear this again! Thankyou Mark Blackburn.
“What’s your point, Peter? If it’s that Mark should’ve written the EU instead of Europe throughout his piece then that’s just pedantry.”
As Peter has pointed out it is not pedantry to point out what everyone knows to be true. In addition it implies that the person whose says that thinks that you can’t be european unless you are in the EU.
Anyone who thinks that the EU and Europe are synonyms is part of the problem not the solution
I suppose the question is where is the question coming from. If it comes from fear, fear that we might lose seats or vote share then it is not the right question. If the same question comes from love for our Party, our country and our fellow citizens then it has a better chance of being the right question. Too many of our questions come from fear.