European Union: UK Membership

Rosie Duffield Excerpts

Monday 24th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell.

By parliamentary standards, this may not be an enormous petition, nor has it attracted almost 3 million signatures, like the recent one calling for another general election. However, it is still significant, and is on a subject that has gone from being all we ever talked about to one we now barely even mention. Those of us with dark red areas on the petition map will know, however, that this issue has not disappeared from our constituents’ hearts and minds. As far as many of us are concerned, Brexit is not and has never been a done deal, never to be spoken of again—almost 400 of my constituents have signed and written to me about it.

From campaigning against Brexit during the referendum to working day and night, including on the first sitting Saturday in 40 years, many of us tried and came so close to securing a less awful deal and a people’s vote. Almost every Labour Member met to discuss and scrutinise every stage and every amendment, led in group meetings several times a day by the current Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Secretary of State for Education; the now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; the Minister for Employment, the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Alison McGovern); and the now Minister of State for Europe and North America, the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty). I would love to believe that those Government Ministers are now applying our years of campaigning together against the damage we foresaw Brexit causing to our national security, economy and place in the world in their new roles, raising those issues in Cabinet and departmental meetings at every available opportunity.

According to the recent YouGov survey that has been mentioned, 55% of Britons now say it was wrong to for the UK to leave the EU, and just 11% see Brexit as more of a success than a failure. That mirrors the 2016 referendum result in my constituency, where the University of Kent, our largest employer, enjoyed an extremely close working partnership with our neighbours across the English channel, not just on research projects, but with campuses on the continent that have sadly now been closed completely. Gone is the once proud sign that read, “University of Kent: the European university”. Gone, too, are many of our friends, neighbours, academics and language teachers, who made Canterbury their home for decades. The diverse demographic mix has changed. Group bookings at local restaurants, the cathedral, guest houses and tourist attractions have fallen dramatically, and our city centre just feels like a different place. Thankfully, we are a resourceful city, used to welcoming pilgrims of all kinds, and we are adjusting, but Brexit punched us heavily, and it hurt.

Canterbury is closer to Europe than to many UK cities, and we have more in common with it than we do with many of them; we have such close ties in so many parts of our local economy. Aside from our social, economic and sentimental ties in east Kent, the national urgency for closer official ties could not be more timely, as shifting global alliances and instability are highlighted every day. We must get closer once again to our friends and allies in the EU. That is, of course, a political decision. It is a matter of leadership and of making the case politically and based on facts. Our trade opportunities and international standing, and our very security, depend on us showing political leadership. This is the basic requirement of political premiers—

[Fred Thomas]

The hon. Member talks about political leadership, and I understand that. While we can all agree that Brexit has been an almost unmitigated disaster, the Labour party manifesto said that we will not go back into the EU, the customs union or the single market. That is the manifesto that I and all of us on this side of the Chamber stood on. You talk about leadership; do you agree that it is important for politicians to honour the manifesto they stood on?

[David Mundell (in the Chair)]

Order. You are asking for the views of the hon. Lady, not me.

[Rosie Duffield]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, but there are plenty of things that the Labour Government seem to be pushing through that were not in the manifesto. The people now in charge were campaigning, with those of us who were here then, against Brexit several years ago, and I would like them to stick to that.

Our trade opportunities and international standing, and our very security, depend on us showing political leadership. This is the basic requirement of political premiers: taking decisions—not just tough decisions on the economy, but bold, swift, courageous decisions during shifting geopolitical circumstances. Our tourism, arts, farming, university and financial sectors need help. It is time that this Government took some of those bold decisions, not only to reflect the will of those they represent, but to protect and secure the best future for the generations who depend on us to deliver it.