Return to EU could come sooner than people realise: Yorkshire Post Letters

Not only does Bernard Ingham (The Yorkshire Post, November 30) trot out the old hackneyed and misleading Brexit claims, he also betrays his own heroes Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

After the end of the Second World War, Churchill envisaged a ‘United Europe’ as a safeguard against future conflict and base of economic cooperation.

Margaret Thatcher is credited with being the main driver for the European Single Market and in 1988 had this to say about it: "Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers - visible or invisible - giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the world’s wealthiest and most prosperous people. Bigger than Japan. Bigger than the United States. On your doorstep. And with the Channel Tunnel to give you direct access to it.”

Today, of course, the European market is closer to 500 million people - and the UK is trying to walk away from it.

From: Richard Wilson, Chair, Leeds for Europe, Roundhay, Leeds.

Bernard Ingham’s column was presumably aimed at your ‘Brextreme’ correspondents. But it’s actually those of us who he reckons suffer from “Europhilia” who will draw the most encouragement from it.

Sir Bernard is confused - falling back on old tropes and excuses for Brexit’s failure. He sounds worried and desperate. He and his dwindling band of Brexit devotees should be.

Figures from YouGov published this week confirm a now well-established pattern, with 70 per cent saying that Brexit has been handled badly (19 per cent well) and 53 per cent saying that we were wrong to leave the European Union (34 per cent right).

Asked if they support a “closer deal” with the EU – including the removal of trade barriers, aligning regulations and bringing back freedom of movement – 54 per cent say ‘yes’ (24 per cent oppose).

I disagree vehemently with what Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer says about “making Brexit work”.

But I take encouragement from how his party’s poll numbers provide an example of how quickly political fortunes can shift. After 2019’s crushing General Election defeat it was widely suggested that Labour would be out of power for many years to come. But YouGov now says that Sir Keir’s party is beating Rishi Sunak’s Tories 48 per cent to 25 per cent and is, thus, widely expected to be back in power within the next couple of years.

We’re seeing a similar resurgence in EU support and I’m optimistic we could likewise be back in Europe much more quickly than many believed until recently.

Sir Bernard has questions. So do we. Which is why Leeds for Europe has published a petition on the UK Parliament website – petition.parliament.uk. It’s headed “We call upon the Government to hold a Public Inquiry into the impact of Brexit”.

At the time of writing, it’s almost two-thirds of the way to the 100,000 signatures needed to be considered for a parliamentary debate. A Government response was guaranteed at 10,000 signatures.

If you’ve not already done so, please sign it.