A series of Labour MPs have made the case for the UK rejoining the EU, urging Andy Burnham’s government to consider full membership as it prepares to set out options for the UK’s long-term relationship with Europe.
The calls came during a Westminster Hall debate on a petition, signed by more than 111,000 people, calling on the UK to apply to rejoin the EU “as soon as possible to increase growth”. The debate also followed Burnham’s announcement to the commons that the forthcoming UK-EU summit will take place in Brussels on 20 November, when he said he wanted to “set up a serious dialogue about the different options for our relationship in the long term”.
Tony Vaughan, a member of the petitions committee, opened the debate. He argued that the “prime minister is absolutely right to be calling for a more ambitious approach.”
Vaughan said he “fully” supported what the government had done to strengthen ties with Europe. But he said “the measures that would make the most difference to our country are not in those draft agreements – at least as it appears so far”.
He said: “We should instead be looking at all the options for how we fundamentally refresh our relationship with Europe, which I believe is strongly in the interests of British people.”
Vaughan, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe, argued that the government could make “infinitely” more progress on tackling illegal migration if the UK was “working inside the EU or more closely with it.”
He concluded: “I strongly welcome the prime minister’s commitment to investigate and set out the long-term options for our relationship with Europe; I urge the minister to make sure that membership is on the list of possible options.”
Ben Coleman, the Labour MP for Chelsea and Fulham, also endorsed the prime minister’s “readiness to look at every option: a customs union, yes; a single market, yes; full membership, yes.”
He told Westminster Hall: “For me, the logic points inexorably towards joining, but I can assure my constituents that I will listen, as well as argue the case.”
Coleman called for “a manifesto pledge to negotiate joining the European Union and then a referendum on the deal”.
Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, said her constituents have a “very clear aspiration” to rejoin the EU, “something I support.” She said that in 2016, “people didn’t know that they were going to be £3,000 worse off. They didn’t know that the cost of living crisis, as a result of that, was going to bear down on them.”
Helen Hayes, the Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said she supported the prime minister in “exploring every possible option for achieving this, including the potential for us to rejoin the European Union.”
She stated: “For many years, there has been a focus on what improvements and changes can be made to our relationships with our European partners, without considering a more ambitious rethink. We have focused instead on the improvements that could be made without any suggestion of going back in.
“I think the time for this is over, and I am glad that our new prime minister recognises this, because Brexit has been genuinely devastating to our country.”
Hayes also said there was “clear evidence of a shift in public opinion, as well as clear evidence of foreign interference in the referendum itself”.
Marsha de Cordova, the Labour MP for Battersea, said Brexit “has been an unmitigated disaster”, and that “if we are serious about growth, prosperity, and opportunity, we must look at our relationship with Europe.”
She added: “The economic case is clear… Rejoining the EU would significantly boost the UK’s GDP.”
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Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge, said he agreed “with the petitioners: we should be in the EU. We should never have left.” He described himself as having been “fiercely proud to be a citizen of Europe” and “furious at having my rights torn away”.
Zeichner, who served as a minister from July 2024 to September 2025, told Westminster Hall: “In my many encounters with ministerial colleagues across the European Union, I was always struck by the warmth and generosity, and actually lack of rancour – they want us back, as many are openly now saying.”
He said that “whether it’s customs union or single market, Switzerland or Norway”, every version “has advantages and disadvantages, and they do need to be assessed calmly”.
He concluded: “The best deal was actually the one we had, and it was thrown away. Now we should support the government in trying to salvage the best we can, but in the end, we’re Europeans and we should be in.”
Other Labour MPs did not go as far as calling for the UK to rejoin, but backed Burnham’s push for closer ties with the EU.
Scott Arthur, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South West, said that “rejoining the EU is not an easy proposition. It would take years to re-enter. So it is right that we look for benefits in the interim”. Arthur argued that “incrementally getting closer to the EU makes sense – we have to win the argument one step at a time”.
Perran Moon, the Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth, called Brexit “a tragic failure” and “disastrous”, and welcomed “an honest conversation about our long-term relationship with Europe, with all options on the table”.
Responding for the government, Cabinet Office minister Mark Ferguson said the prime minister “will lay out options for Britain’s long-term relationship with our European partners around the summit in November and find consensus on what is best for Britain”.
Ferguson declared: “In 2016, the people of Britain voted for change and full control, but Brexit has done more harm than good.”
Ferguson’s response was notably softer than the government’s reply to the petition in January, issued after it passed the 10,000-signature threshold. At that point, during Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister, the government stated: “The UK will not be rejoining the EU, but this Government has reset its relationship with the EU with a new strategic partnership: A deal that is good for UK bills, borders, jobs and growth.”
During the debate, the government was urged to take a bolder stance on UK-EU relations by a host of Liberal Democrat MPs.
Al Pinkerton, the Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson, told Westminster Hall: “We believe that Britain’s long-term future lies within the European Union… Our destination is clear; a growth and defence partnership is how we get moving.”
Paul Kohler, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon, said Burnham “even now remains wedded to his predecessor’s red lines”, which he said meant “any progress in the much-delayed EU summit will be severely limited”.
Kohler concluded: “Let’s proclaim loudly: the aim of this re-engagement is to one day, in my lifetime, become full and active members of the EU once more.”
Pippa Heylings, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, said that 10 years on, “we have a responsibility to look honestly at the consequences and costs of Brexit and the relationship that we do want with Europe”.
The debate also heard from opponents of a closer UK-EU relationship.
Mike Wood, the shadow Cabinet Office minister on duty, said the Conservatives “will not support the petition and will fiercely resist any attempt to pull this country back into the European Union, whether through the front door or the back”.
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, a longstanding eurosceptic, said: “There is a sort of heartfelt hope amongst a great many people here who think somehow rejoining the EU would be transformative for the British economy…
“Let’s just look at the facts. The UK economy has outgrown France and Germany since we left the EU.”
Jenkin described forecasts that Brexit had damaged the economy as “conjectural projections, which are not things that have happened”.
Reform UK MP Danny Kruger stated: “The opportunity remains for the United Kingdom to prosper from the tremendous decision that the British people took 10 years ago…
“The answer is not to take a step back into the EU.”
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