This week (24 March) parliament debated the petition entitled “Apply for the UK to join the European Union as a full member as soon as possible”. This petition (having reached 134,000 signatures at this point) was created by Robert McMaster who was also present on the day with his wife in parliament. It can still be signed until 30 April 2025 here. The debate was led by Paul Davies, Labour MP of Colne Vally.
I decided to go along to watch to represent North East for Europe. Here in the North East we used to receive the largest amount of EU funding in England as it was recognised as needing this extra support. Given this funding hasn’t been fully replaced, I was disappointed not to see more local MPs in attendance. It was noted several times that there was not one single Reform UK MP in the room. Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, asked if this was because “they spend more time sucking up to Trump and Putin than representing their constituents?”
A positive response
However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were a lot more MPs than I would have expected in attendance. Most were overwhelmingly positive about the concept of this petition which I also hadn’t been expecting. It was discussed that rejoining the EU would boost the economy, increase global influence, improve collaboration and provide stability and freedom.
McMaster’s beliefs that Brexit hasn’t brought any tangible benefits and that there is no future prospect of any along with the statistics showing that the UK has changed its mind were also debated. Indeed, YouGov found that 61% of North of England voters think Brexit“ is more of a failure than a success”, with only 11% thinking the opposite. The Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View, Fred Thomas, amongst others, described Brexit as “an almost unmitigated disaster”. Wera Hobhouse, a British-German Lib Dem MP for Bath, described her sense of grieving when the UK left the EU in January 2020.
Tom Hayes, the Labour MP for Bournemouth East, was one of several MPs who supported a youth mobility scheme. It was pointed out that this is not the same thing as freedom of movement. Bringing back the Erasmus Plus scheme was also discussed by others especially after the Turing scheme has been beset with problems.
Some MPs were more cautious and talked of going into the single market and customs union rather than going back to full EU membership. The main benefits being that this would bring inward investment, frictionless trade and economic growth benefiting industry and consumers alike. Others such as MP Stella Creasy, chair of the Labour Movement for Europe talked rather about joining the Pan euro -Mediterranean convention (PEM). Labour’s red lines and manifesto promises of not rejoining the EU were mentioned several times especially by cabinet office minister Abena Oppong-Asare MP. However, as now independent MP Rosie Duffield pointed out “there are plenty of things that the Labour government seem to be pushing through that were not in the manifesto”.
Caroline Voaden of the Liberal Democrats for South Devon still felt as though it was too early to campaign to rejoin the EU at the moment but that “concrete steps” towards this should be made by the government.
One of the few dissenting voices was from Jim Allister the Traditional Unionist Voice MP for North Antrim who felt that Northern Ireland remaining in the single market was not the panacea it had been painted as being. He resented that this meant that his country was “governed by laws that we do not make and cannot change”.
Some of the politicians in the room could be seen looking at him incredulously at this point. Stella Creasy asked about what did he have to say regarding the majority of voters in Northern Ireland who voted to remain?
Allister replied “on the question of Northern Ireland voting in favour of remaining , so what? That was not the question on the ballot paper” referring to the fact it was the UK collectively that had to decide this matter not a single nation.
Conclusion
The overall conclusion, in my opinion, was that this was a more positive debate than I had expected. A lot of the benefits of being in the EU were discussed to remind people of what we have lost but also what we could regain again in some shape or form. Some of the Labour red line discussions were predictable but frustrating. It is an important reminder that we all should continue to keep up the pressure on our MPs through our various EU campaigning.
