LONDON – “The destiny of the United Kingdom and of London lies in the European Union,” says Labour mayor Sadiq Khan in this exclusive interview with la Repubblica, in his office in East London, ten years after the Brexit referendum. “It is an inevitable and increasingly necessary destiny, in an incredibly unstable world and with Donald Trump in power in America. Europe is our only security. For this reason, I am asking Prime Minister Keir Starmer and our Labour Party to go into the next elections with a promise to rejoin the EU”, and without going through a second referendum.
Mayor Khan, the Labour government is working on the Reset with the EU, but at the same time, I went to an event with Alexander Stubb, the Finnish President, the other day, and he said Brexit was the worst mistake ever seen, “like you chopped a leg without a reason”. What should be the path for you? Do you also think that maybe the UK should rejoin EU at some point?
“Well, I'm quite clear. I see on a daily basis the damage Brexit has done to not just London, but Londoners, the damage economically, socially and culturally. And I'm quite clear in terms of what needs to happen, which is, I do think we should join the European Union. But let me explain why. We've published today some research, the latest research, this time done by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and also Goldman Sachs. And what that confirms is that our economy would have grown by an additional 10% but for Brexit, so park for a second the social and cultural damage, the economic damage is humongous. So I think there should be a five-stage process, in relation to this. Number one, we should reset relations with the EU, and that's done. Tick. Number two, we should have closer alignment, and the Chancellor this week has talked about closer alignment, sector by sector, and only diverge in exceptional circumstances. So we basically have to take the next three steps that are incredibly important. Step three, we should rejoin the Customs Union this parliament. Any trade agreement is less good than the Customs Union. And then step four, we should rejoin the single market. We should try and do this during this parliament. And then we should, as a Labour Party, fight the next general election with a clear manifesto commitment, a vote for Labour means we would rejoin the European Union. I think it's inevitable. Why do I say that? Because we've seen the damage it's done, but also we've seen the promises made by the Brexiteers have been exposed. There is no additional 350 million pounds every week going to the NHS, families are suffering, businesses are suffering, the country is suffering. This is quite extraordinary.”
