Brexit Backtrack? London Mayor Sadiq Khan Says Rejoining EU Single Market Should Be On the Table

In an attempt to shift the Overton window within the left-wing Labour Party, far-left London Mayor Sadiq Khan has argued that backtracking on key principles of Brexit, including by rejoining the EU’s Single Market and loosening immigration controls for young people, should be on the table.

Speaking before the socialist Fabian Society, a founding member of the Labour Representation Committee that spawned the Labour Party, Mayor Khan argued that there needs to be a “conversation” about Brexit as the deal between the UK and the EU comes up for review this year.

“Let’s have the conversation,” Khan said according to the PA news agency. “I’m not saying today we should rejoin the European Union. What I’m saying is that (shadow foreign secretary) David Lammy is onto something when he’s saying we should have a closer relationship with the European Union.”

The leftist mayor criticised the “omerta” (pact of silence) surrounding Brexit within the Labour Party that supposedly stiffles open discussion about “being close to the European Union, joining the single market, joining the customs union”.

Khan also called for the government to negotiate a deal with the EU to allow for young people to travel freely between the bloc and the UK for tourism, education and even for work.

“I’m clear that I’d be supportive of a youth mobility scheme, which would benefit us economically, culturally and socially. While the UK may no longer be part of the EU, London is, and always will be, a European city,” he told The Observer.

Brexit and EU alignment will likely be a difficult issue for the left-wing Labour Party to navigate as it seeks to take power in the upcoming general election, which will largely be determined by former ‘Red Wall’ Labour Party voters in the north of England who backed Boris Johnson’s Tories in 2019 on the promise of finally delivering Brexit.

Many of these voters have become disaffected with the Conservative Party, which has failed to deliver on key promises such as reducing migration to the country, with legal immigration soaring to record highs under the post-Brexit immigration bill which did not place any limits on the actual number of foreigners allowed into the UK.

Despite the highly urban base of the Labour Party, leader Sir Keir Starmer has attempted to straddle the line politically to prevent alienating working-class Brexit voters. Starmer said in September that there is “no case for going back into the EU and that includes the single market and the customs union.”

However, the Labour Party leader has said that he would seek greater alignment with the European Union, particularly on issues surrounding food, environmental, and labour regulations, which pro-Brexit critics have argued will undercut the UK’s ability to gain a competitive advantage over the EU. Starmer has also said that he will seek to renegotiate the post-Brexit trade deal with the bloc, although he has so far not provided details on how he would improve the agreement.

While Starmer’s position is likely influenced by his goal of winning over Brexit voters in the north, Sadiq Khan’s more strident anti-Brexit position is likely influenced by the demographics of the London voter base, which he is currently trying to convince to grant him a third term as mayor in the May elections. According to a city hall source speaking to The Observer, there are an estimated 1.2 million people from EU nations living in London who are eligible to cast votes in the upcoming mayoral election.

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