Britain should begin preparing to rejoin the European Union as Russia’s war against Ukraine and uncertainty over Donald Trump’s commitment to European security reshape the continent’s political landscape, according to a major new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research.
The Labour-linked think tank argues that full membership of the bloc is necessary to protect Britain’s prosperity, security and democracy, urging the government to build a national consensus for re-entry rather than remain focused on the political divisions of Brexit.
Its intervention comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer signals a willingness to deepen relations with Brussels, saying recently that a future Labour manifesto could potentially include an in-out referendum on EU membership. He has also indicated that the government will examine other ways of bringing Britain closer to the bloc.
The IPPR, however, argues that incremental agreements will not be enough to address the strategic challenges facing Britain and Europe.
“Escalating Russian aggression and an unpredictable Donald Trump” have transformed the case for closer European integration, the report says, arguing that the EU Britain would seek to join today is fundamentally different from the one it left in 2016.
Polling commissioned by the IPPR and Persuasion UK found that, among respondents expressing a view, 64 per cent favoured regaining EU membership, compared with 36 per cent who wanted Britain to remain outside.
Even among Labour voters considering switching their support to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, 54 per cent supported rejoining, against 36 per cent who opposed it, according to the survey.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, IPPR executive director, said the government had made progress in repairing relations with Europe but that individual agreements could not substitute for membership.
“That does not mean announcing another referendum tomorrow,” he said, adding that ministers should begin building political support in Britain and across Europe for the longer-term objective.
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock also backed the proposal, arguing that the international environment had changed dramatically over the past decade. Patriotism, prosperity and security, he said, all supported the case for returning to the EU.
The report places particular emphasis on defence. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated European efforts to increase military spending and strengthen industrial supply chains, while questions over the reliability of American support have intensified calls for greater European strategic capacity.
Laura Chappell, an IPPR associate director, argued that Britain could no longer exercise meaningful control over major challenges by acting alone, including household cost pressures, industrial renewal and national security.
The think-tank calls for closer UK-EU Defence co-operation, including a proposed European Defence Alliance and British contributions in areas such as satellite communications, to reduce Europe’s dependence on the US.
The political obstacles remain considerable. Rejoining would require negotiations with EU member states, agreement on the terms of membership and a domestic political mandate strong enough to sustain the process.
The report does not call for an immediate referendum. Instead, it seeks to shift the debate from the arguments that defined Brexit towards the strategic choices confronting Britain now.
Its central contention is that Europe’s changing security environment has made the question of Britain’s place in the bloc more than an economic calculation: it is increasingly a debate about how the country protects its interests in a more dangerous and uncertain world.
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