Blair urges Britain to work towards rejoining EU within a decade

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair has said Britain should work towards rejoining the European Union within the next decade, ten years after the country voted to leave. Blair has urged current Prime Minister Andy Burnham to put EU membership back on the agenda in his forthcoming ten-year plan, due in November.

A paper from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), titled "A Path to Rejoining a Reformed Europe," argues that Britain should accept free movement of people and make a financial contribution as conditions of re-entry. In a foreword, Blair writes that Britain should signal its intention, if terms are right, to enter a structured formal relationship with Europe and begin a negotiation process where everything is on the table but nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

Pressure on Burnham

The intervention follows Burnham's refusal to rule out a pledge to rejoin the EU in Labour's next election manifesto, a move that risks reopening the divisions caused by the referendum a decade ago. Burnham has said he does not intend to pursue membership in the near term, calling it a question "for another day."

Blair joins a growing list of Labour figures backing a return to the EU. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has called the Brexit vote a "catastrophic mistake," while Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has warned against reopening the divisive arguments that followed the referendum.

Polling suggests electoral upside

A large-scale poll conducted by YouGov for the pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain, surveying more than 13,000 people, found that a pledge to rejoin the EU could more than double Labour's seat total by uniting progressive voters, without boosting support for Reform UK.

The TBI paper also proposes using the possibility of rejoining as leverage to speed up European market reforms, and calls on the government to scrap its current red lines against rejoining, allowing free movement, or joining the single market or a customs union.