Sadiq Khan condemns Brexit ‘amnesia’ and calls for ‘pragmatic debate’ over rejoining single market – UK politics live

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Good morning. Britain has now been legally out of the EU for almost three years, and practically out of the EU (following the end of the transition period) for two years. Increasingly, people view this as a mistake. Here is a graph from the What UK Thinks website showing what has happened to the polling since 2016 on the question was Britain right or wrong to leave. The green line represents wrong.

If you look at the graph on the What UK Thinks website, you can read the results of all 241 polls on this it has tracked.

This is not something that the leaders of both main parties are keen to talk about. Rishi Sunak voted for Brexit not primarily because he wanted to end free movement, a logical reason for voting leave, but because he thought Brexit would in time be good for trade and economic growth, which is increasingly looking like a colossal misjudgment. It is obvious why he is keen to avoid the subject. Keir Starmer fought against Brexit tenaciously, but he is not particularly keen on discussing the subject either. Labour got hammered in 2019 by being seen as on the wrong side of public opinion on Brexit, and the party has (probably quite rightly) concluded that there is nothing voters hate more than being told they got it wrong.

But tonight Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, is going to step into this argument in a speech at the Mansion House in London, some extracts from which have been released in advance. London voted remain, and so, unlike Starmer, can speak out on this without worrying about alienating his electoral base. But he is going to make two arguments that will stir things up a bit in the party.

Khan will argue that politicians “can’t keep quiet” about the damage that Brexit is doing. He will say:

I simply can’t keep quiet about the immense damage Brexit is doing.

Ministers seem to have developed selective amnesia when it comes to one of the root causes of our problems.

Brexit can’t be airbrushed out of history or the consequences wished away.

In this quote he refers to “ministers”, but his comment clearly applies to Labour too. Last month Starmer was criticised for telling the Today programme that rejoining the single market would not boost growth. (Economists are almost unanimous in saying it would boost growth, but in the interview Starmer elaborated on his initial unequivocal answer and said the UK could only rejoin the single market after “years of wrangling”, which would create uncertainty.)

Khan will call for a “pragmatic debate” about the case for rejoining the single market and the customs union. Starmer has firmly rejected both these options. But Khan will say:

After two years of denial and avoidance, we must now confront the hard truth: Brexit isn’t working.

It’s weakened our economy, fractured our union and diminished our reputation. But, crucially, not beyond repair.

We need greater alignment with our European neighbours – a shift from this extreme, hard Brexit we have now to a workable version that serves our economy and people.

That includes having a pragmatic debate about the benefits of being a part of the customs union and the single market.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Steve Barclay, the health secretary, holds a meeting with the BMA about the proposed strike by doctors.

9.30am: NHS England publishes its latest monthly performance figures.

11am: Keir Starmer visits Stormont for talks with the political parties in Northern Ireland. Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach (Irish PM) is also visiting Belfast today.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

At some point today the RMT and TSSA rail unions are also holding talks with the rail companies about a possible solution to the rail strikes.

And at some point later in the day Rishi Sunak is travelling to Scotland, where he has also got engagements tomorrow. He will be meeting Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, while he is there.

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