𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Brexiteers have sounded the alarm that a pro-EU “blob” at the heart of the British establishment is exploiting Sir Keir Starmer’s weakness to push for the United Kingdom to rejoin the European Union. The warning comes in the wake of Philip Rycroft – formerly the top civil servant at the Department for Exiting the European Union – saying it is “time to talk about rejoining”.

The PM is under pressure from within Labour and from rival parties to put Britain back in Brussel’s orbit. Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has called for Labour to go into the next election with a promise to rejoin the EU. Green party leader Zack Polanski has said he is “very much” in favour of rejoining the EU and the SNP and Plaid Cymru want to secure independence for Scotland and Wales, respectively, within the bloc.

Sir Keir will try to reboot his premiership next month with a King’s Speech which is expected to include legislation to “align” UK law in areas including animal health with Brussels’s regulations as part of his EU “reset”.

Former Chief Brexit Negotiator Lord Frost told the Express: “Now that Starmer’s own position is under threat, the pro-EU forces in Labour see the opportunity and are combining with a bureaucratic establishment that never wanted to leave the EU in the first place. It’s vital that those who stand by the 2016 referendum result get ready to resist the Rejoin direction of travel, beginning with parliamentary opposition to the new Alignment with the EU Bill lined up in the King’s Speech.”

Former Labour minister Baroness Hoey said: “Every time I hear someone like Rycroft call for us to rejoin it confirms my belief that it was because of senior civil servants like him that we wasted the opportunities presented by leaving”.

Turning her fire on Sir Keir, who served as Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, she said: “Starmer, the most passionate EU supporter, may be on the way out but the blob inside Whitehall are desperate to rejoin in so they can simply be told what to do again by Brussels. They have no confidence in our country but they underestimate just how out of touch they are with the feelings of those they look down on from their cosy establishment.”

Labour’s manifesto ruled out returning to the “single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement” but senior Labour figures, including the Chancellor, now regularly blame Brexit for Britain’s economic woes and support close alignment with the EU.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel warned that Sir Keir’s plans would result in the “worst of both worlds for hard-pressed British taxpayers”, saying Labour wants to “make Britain a rule-taker once again which is not In our national interest”.

Naomi Smith of the pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain said on Friday that “little appetite exists for the halfway houses of a customs union or single market entry, relative to the resounding and deeply felt support for EU membership.” Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s chief minister, has said he hopes to “see the UK rejoin the EU”.

Former Brexit minister David Jones commented: “As the Prime Minister’s authority ebbs away, it is increasingly clear that familiar establishment voices are seeking to overturn the Brexit vote by stealth.”

Mr Jones insisted there is “no mandate for rejoining” and warned that “alignment at this stage would not be pragmatism, it would be a shameful retreat”.

Mark Francois, the chairman of the Conservative European Research Group, said: “The British establishment is still smarting over losing the EU referendum in 2016 but now they no longer even bother to hide it. They are hoping to persuade a beleaguered Labour Government that rejoining the EU would somehow be their salvation – which it would not. Labour voters in the Red Wall are very unlikely to want to be somehow shoehorned back into the EU.”

Veteran Brexiteer Dame Theresa Villiers described Sir Keir as a “floundering PM trying to blame Brexit for Labour economic failure”.

She said: “It would be a disaster to wind the clock back and go back to those endless rows over our relationship with the EU. British made its choice in the referendum and that should be respected.”

John Longworth, the former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce who co-chaired the Leave Means Leave campaign, insisted Brexit has “been beneficial for the UK” but claimed a “weak PM and desperate Chancellor have given the pro-EU blob the opportunity to raise their ugly head and produce fictional reasons to seek to rejoin, a move which would spell the end of Britain as an independent nation and result in major damage for business and consumers”.

He said: “They have done this in their own vested interests and as a scapegoat for their failings. The next Government must redouble its efforts to diverge, innovate and create real economic growth rather than shackle the country to a slow growth, sinking ship.”

Former Defence Secretary Dame Penny Mordaunt said: “I’ve always said the real heroes of Brexit were those who voted remain and accepted the democratic result. I think the public will take a dim view of both people trying to rerun the referendum and those trying to reverse it by stealth, which would be the worse outcome of all – none of gains of leaving and none of the benefits of membership. That of course is Prime Ministers position.”

Leading Thatcherite Lord Redwood warned that “importing more EU laws, taxes and products will slow growth, undermine trade deals with the rest of the world and make us rule-takers again”.

A Labour source said: “Don’t worry. Rejoin isn’t on the cards for the Labour Government. We are seeking to make Brexit work – not reverse it.”