Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has said the UK must rejoin the EU, insisting it is the “only patriotic thing to do” for Britain.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Lord Kinnock argued that anyone who truly loves Britain should back rejoining the bloc – and they should do it for the “kids” at the very least.
In a stark message to the incoming prime minister, Lord Kinnock also urged Andy Burnham not to be as constrained as Keir Starmer by Labour’s so-called “red lines” on Europe, which rule out rejoining the customs union and single market or allowing free movement of labour.
He said: “The only patriotic thing to do is to get us back into the European Union – it’s as raw and as basic as that.
“If you love your country, and the people who live under the flag – and not just saluting the flag – then you will want to get us back into the European Union.
“All the other options are not patriotic. They are not serving the national interest.”
Lord Kinnock, who was speaking to The Independent as part of its Europe: The Way Back campaign, which is calling for the UK to rebuild its relationship with Europe, questioned whether the Brexit vote accurately reflected the views of Britain today.
“Do it for the kids. They didn’t get a chance to have a say,” he said.
“A one-off referendum, with a yes/no question, might legitimately represent the view of a generation or a given population on a given day. The view could have changed a fortnight later – certainly 10 years later”.
Lord Kinnock, who was leader of Labour between 1983 and 1992, said he has not been surprised by the effects of leaving the EU. “I’ve been deeply saddened. Indeed, I’ll be honest, enraged by it, because this was an avoidable disaster,” he said.
He compared Brexit to “contracting some dreadful, long-lasting illness that debilitates and doesn't kill ... We have been debilitated by being outside the European Union.”
Hitting out at the economic, political, social and cultural damage caused by the UK’s departure from the bloc, the Welsh fireband said it is “wide and deep, and worst of all, it’s continuing, and will continue”.
He said the economic damage alone was “difficult, really, to believe” in scale, pointing to analysis which estimates it has cost the UK economy at least six per cent in lost growth – a loss of tens of billions of pounds “needed for vital services”.
“All this works out at something like £3,200 a year per person loss in Britain,” he said.
“For a conventional family, that’s over £6,000 – and the damage… won’t come to a stop until we’ve got an entirely different new relationship, which I think should involve applying again to join the European Union”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Lord Kinnock, now 84, also predicted a future referendum could see Britain vote to re-enter the EU by a huge margin of two to one, as he accused Nigel Farage, one of the main proponents of Brexit, of going silent over the alleged “benefits” of Brexit.
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Earlier this week, one of Mr Farage’s top allies warned he “cannot hide away” from growing questions over a £5m gift he received from a crypto-billionaire, which he has claimed was a reward for “campaigning for Brexit for 27 years”.
“Farage... when he makes a speech listing the material advantages of Brexit – maybe the sun won’t rise that day,” Lord Kinnock said. Asked if he would also eat his hat that day, he added: “No, I've got a very conservative appetite.”
Lord Kinnock was candid about the deficiencies of the Remain campaign that worked to keep the UK in the EU before the 2016 referendum – 10 years ago last month – saying it “did not score any goals at all”.
But he argued there was a way back for the UK into the EU, although he admitted it would be a “slog” that would involve “making the arguments that relate to people’s everyday lives”.
The choice would have to be agreed either through a “very plain undertaking” at a general election or potentially another referendum.
The 1975 referendum on EU membership saw the Yes campaign win the support of the overwhelming majority of the public, winning by a margin of 67 per cent to 33 per cent. Asked if such a win was possible again, he said: “I think it is.”
But he said that any deal to return must be based on the “mutual advantages” that the two can bring to each other.
He also expressed his optimism that the UK was “now moving into a different phase of relationships with the European Union, and maybe, maybe Andy will have a different perspective – and not feel himself quite as constrained by the so-called ‘red lines’, which invited difficulty”.
These rule out rejoining the customs union and single market or allowing free movement of labour.
“I have to say that I don’t think that we’re going to reach substantial and sustainable rates of economic growth, while access to our main market is impeded, and when imports from our main market carry extra costs,” Lord Kinnock said.
But he said the red lines could not be scrapped “simply because that’s the basis on which Labour was elected to government, and even under new leadership, I don’t think there’s a tearing-up option. Much as I would, if it was possible and practical [scrap them].”
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