Article #59229

Michel Barnier says UK could also join a new European security and defence council

Whoever becomes the next UK prime minister will have plenty of political space to move closer to Europe, polling expert John Curtice has said.

His comments come as many domestically and in Europe begin to question whether the potential future British prime minister will move further away or closer to the EU than Keir Starmer.

“Labour’s vote is something like three-quarters to four-fifths pro-Rejoin [the EU] vote.

Labour has always had much more potential political opportunity to be able to go further in terms of our relationship with the European Union, but it does mean that the Labour Party has to end its hang up about the ‘Red Wall.’”

“Actually the reason why public opinion has shifted from what was, 52:48 in favour of Brexit no being roughly 60, 40 rejoin is partly to do with the fact that leave voters are less likely to say they would vote to stay out, than remain voters … say rejoin.

There is a bit of a gut [feeling] there, but we have to remember now that there are 10 years worth of our population who were too young to vote in 2016.

And if you actually look at the perceptions of the people who did not vote in 2016, whether they were too young or not, they, and their perceptions of the consequences of Brexit, including on the economy, look much closer to the views of remain voters than those of leave voters.”