Chilling to think that the country will have to wait 15 years to undo Brexit damage - Yorkshire Post Letters

It was disturbing to read that polling expert Sir John Curtice thinks it could be up to 15 years before we might get the chance to put Brexit behind us (‘Britain may hold another EU referendum’, The Yorkshire Post, April 26).

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens before 2040,” says Sir John. It’s chilling to think what a state the country might be in if politicians make us wait that long.

As Sir John notes, three-quarters of Labour voters already oppose Brexit: “Labour’s vote is almost as anti-Brexit as it was in 2019.”

Despite this, Sir Keir Starmer and his Shadow Chancellor, Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves, say there’s “no case” for rejoining the European Union or its Single Market …even while claiming they can grow the UK economy.

Estimates of the Brexit hit to the UK economy range from four to six per cent of GDP. The Tories might come up with some nonsense, but does Labour really believe it has such amazing policies that can still offset that and make us the fastest growing economy in the G7?

Apparently, Sir John has doubts – according to a further report on the HuffPost website: “I think it’s not unlikely that the next Labour government is going to hit political trouble fairly early on because it’s a terrible, terrible legacy that they are going to inherit.”

They’ll then “have to think about ways to keep their voters on board – a lot of voters would be hoping that a Labour government would do something about the EU”.

Wouldn’t it be better for Labour to be talking now about doing the right things – not wait for “a terrible legacy” to force its hand?

Recently, the Labour leadership was widely criticised – including by many in its own ranks – for quickly dismissing a proposal from the European Commission for a UK-EU youth mobility scheme.

Leeds for Europe isn’t party political. But I do know we’ve members who’ve quit the Labour Party because of the weak, ludicrous positions it keeps taking on Brexit and Europe.

These are the kind of well-informed, politically savvy voters a party would want willingly door-knocking for them in an election campaign. Labour will have to move quickly if it wants them back before the General Election.