It’s not going to happen any time soon. The Overton Window in the UK has slid so far that it is now accepted (by both major parties and the mainstream media) that joining the EU in the first place was a historic mistake, and even as expectations of Brexit dividends have made way for the reality of massive economic damage, the narrative has shifted to this being a necessary price to pay for correcting this mistake and retaking our historic destiny as the Mighty Lion-Race Of Albion or whatever bollocks. The idea that the UK should be in the EU is as much on the lunatic fringe as the idea that it should leave was a decade ago. Maybe in another decade’s time, once the humiliation has truly sunk in, Britain’s constituent nations will rejoin one by one, at that time happy to adopt the Euro, metric beer glasses and driving on the right if that’s what it takes.
It’s worth saying that both major parties are way out of line with the electorate on this - polling of whom shows:
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there were consistent majorities for Remain from about mid-2017 until Brexit happened; and
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there has been a consistent polling plurality for Rejoin pretty much since that point onwards (and sometimes outright polling majorities for Rejoin).
So neither of those parties are currently speaking for a large (and possibly majority) share of the electorate on this issue. When such situations arise, it’s rare for the electorate to be the ones who have to change their mind and accord with what the politicians think…
What I expect will happen in the coming years (particularly after Labour go into government next year) is that the Lib Dems will get increasingly bolshy on this issue and probably build towards announcing a Rejoin manifesto in the run up to the 2028/9 general election, and Labour will start bleeding votes to them. That will force Labour to shift its position (in the same way they shifted their position on a People’s Vote after the Lib Dems trounced them in Labour strongholds at the 2019 EU elections).
By the end of this decade, Rejoin will be a very mainstream position among British politicians in the way it already is with British voters.
By the end of this decade, Rejoin will be a very mainstream position among British politicians in the way it already is with British voters.
Still, that means it is probably not going to happen until the last years of the following decade at the earliest and that is if a significant effort is made to reduce the gap on standards and regulations introduced in the last few years.
Nah, they’ll begin the candidacy talks, the U.K. will say “soo same deal as before, maybe we compromise on the color of the passport?” the E.U. will say “LMAO. To start with, the Euro is non-negotiable” and that will be the end of that until 2050 at least.
Having a Rejoin movement in the UK is one thing, good on them for rubbing the Leavers’ noses into their own shit stains, but everything I know about the UK shows that you will never get a majority of voters in favor of the new accession rules, that have been repeatedly stated by the EU as non-negotiable (for obvious geopolitical reasons of fairness towards other EU member states as well as fear of precedent-setting).
Nah, they’ll begin the candidacy talks, the U.K. will say “soo same deal as before, maybe we compromise on the color of the passport?” the E.U. will say “LMAO. To start with, the Euro is non-negotiable” and that will be the end of that until 2050 at least.
8 EU-countries are outside the eurozone, though.
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