Starmer, the wrong man to reverse Brexit

It sounded like the perfect start to 2026. “Fears Starmer is plotting a ‘full-blown Brexit betrayal’” fumed the Daily Express’s front page on Monday, January 5. “In his mind, what better way to mark the 10th anniversary of Brexit than by undoing it?” foamed Suella Braverman on GB News, a couple of days later.

When talk of Brexit betrayal is in the air, the only sensible reaction is surely “when can you start?” When Starmer – frustratingly cautious on the issue both in opposition and government – is supposedly doing the undoing, you should be digging out the last of the Christmas fizz.

Yet for Rejoiners, there is reason to be nervous. Because ask yourself this: is Keir Starmer really the man who is going to persuade Britain that it needs “even closer alignment” with the EU, as he told Laura Kuenssberg in an interview on January 4? Or, as some think he will soon say, that it should join a customs union with the EU? Or even that it should hold a second referendum on returning to the European Union?

A consensus appears to be building on both the Brexiteer right and Rejoin left that this year the prime minister will have to be bolder still on Britain and Europe; that either his ongoing search for a narrative or the need to keep colleagues onside after catastrophic losses in May’s elections will lead him to a big, bold move like the customs union option favoured by David Lammy, Wes Streeting and his chief economic adviser, Baroness Minouche Shafik.

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“What’s the downside?” asked Rory Stewart on a recent episode of The Rest Is Politics. “You’re doomed anyway, you’ll already struggle to remain as leader.” The pollster Peter Kellner says that Starmer declaring “his long-term goal is a democratic decision, at an election or referendum, to rejoin the EU” would be a “wow factor” move, “a change that is big, dramatic and courageous.”

The worry is that Starmer might take a customs union or Rejoin down with him. Brexit may be massively unpopular, but the prime minister is far more disliked. The recent Deltapoll survey that showed Stay Out trailing Rejoin by 16 points also shows Starmer’s rating 49 points underwater. On Boxing Day, he was taunted as “the least popular prime minister in history” by none other than Liz Truss.
Think back to the 2016 referendum, and Austerity George being sent out as the voice of Remain. No-one gave Brexit a chance of succeeding before the hugely disliked Osborne started weighing in for the other side. Might the same happen for Stay Out if Starmer, a poor public speaker about whom most people seem to have made up their minds, started banging the second referendum drum again?

Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch seem to relish the idea of him doing so. There was extra bite this week in their attacks on Starmer’s unexciting though necessary plans to speed up regulatory alignment in sectors beyond agrifoods and energy trading, so more sector-by-sector trade deals can be done in future.

They sense, too, that more might be about to come – that Starmer’s only big victory in May is likely to be Arsenal winning the league, that Europe could be his final throw of the dice and that the question facing Britain will then be: would you buy an undone Brexit from this man?

The bigger picture

Nearly six out of 10 Britons (58%) would vote to rejoin the European Union if a referendum were held tomorrow, with only 42% voting against, according to a Deltapoll survey for the Daily Mirror. Every area of the county is pro-rejoin, with support highest in Scotland (73%), London (65%) and Wales (65%). It is lowest in the North (54%) and Midlands (53%), but overall both regions support a return to the EU. While 86% of voters aged 18-24 want to reverse Brexit, older voters still back staying out – by 51% to 49% among 55 to 64-year-olds, and 58% to 42% among over-65s.

Data: Deltapoll, weighted survey of 1997 British adults online, December 16-18, 2025. Visualisation: TNW