(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on May 14, 2026 shows(FILES) Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers his keynote address to delegates on the third day of the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 30, 2025.(FILES) Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting delivers a speech on the third day of the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 30, 2025. Wes Streeting announced May 14, 2026, that he has resigned as Britain’s health minister, paving the way for a potential leadership challenge against embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer. ( AFP / Oli SCARFF )
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that he did not want to get drawn into a debate on Brexit, revived in the midst of a political crisis within Labor by one of his rivals, who called for a return of the United Kingdom to the European Union.
Almost ten years after the Brexit referendum, which tore the country apart, the future of relations with the EU is still a undermined subject in the United Kingdom. And even more so since the rise of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, led by former Brexit figure Nigel Farage.
Keir Starmer’s Labor government came to power in 2024 defending a rapprochement with the EU, but setting several red lines: no return to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement.
But while the Prime Minister is very weakened after the electoral defeat of Labor in the local elections of May 7 and a race for his succession is being prepared, one of his potential competitors, the former Minister of Health Wes Streeting, has brought the subject back to the table.
“We need a new special relationship with the EU, because the future of the United Kingdom lies in Europe, and one day, in the European Union,” he said on Saturday at a conference in London, adding that Brexit had been “a catastrophic mistake”.
Keir Starmer, who according to British media spent the weekend at his official country residence in Checkers to reflect on his future, responded on Monday that he did not want to “get lost in debates about what could happen” in the future.
“I remain focused on the work that I do, which consists of bringing us closer to the EU”, for the benefit of the British economy and businesses, he insisted during a trip to north London.
But the declarations of his ex-minister, who resigned from the government on Thursday, ignited the political class and the British media.
The Eurosceptic conservative daily Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail tabloid denounced it as a “betrayal”, while the leader of the conservative opposition Kemi Badenoch said on Sunday that reopening this debate was “a sign that the Labor Party has no project for the country”.
– “Labour against Reform” –
This outing by Wes Streeting is mainly seen as an attempt to embarrass another rival of Keir Starmer, the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, pro-European.
The latter is preparing for a difficult election to return to Parliament, in a constituency which had largely supported leaving the EU in 2016 and where Reform UK will be its main opponent.
He absolutely must win if he wants to compete to take the helm of Labor and enter Downing Street.
His allies denounced an attempt to sabotage their champion, the British’s favorite political personality, whose candidacy has yet to be formalized by Labor.
Nigel Farage jumped into the debate, saying that Andy Burnham’s position on Brexit “raises serious questions”, because it amounts to “advocating a return to a European project based on the free movement of 500 million people”, he told the Daily Express.
After having assured during the weekend that he did not want to make the return to the EU a subject of this by-election, Andy Burnham said again on Monday that “the last thing to do now is to reopen this debate”.
He received the support of Keir Starmer for this upcoming campaign. “It’s Labor against Reform” and “whoever (the Labor Party candidate) is, I will support him 100%”, declared the head of government on Monday morning.
The United Kingdom and the EU are due to hold their second bilateral summit this summer, after that of May 2025 which resulted in an agreement for closer collaboration on defense and security, and an easing of constraints on trade in foodstuffs.
London will also re-enter the Erasmus university exchange program in 2027.
In Brussels, we are cautiously following the debate on Brexit across the Channel. A spokesperson for the European Commission said on Monday that “rather than speculating” on a return of the United Kingdom to the EU, the Commission favors a “very concrete approach” on specific areas of cooperation.
