Burnham - rejoin Europe in one shape or form?

Burnham in talks with Germany over defence. I suspect this will be one of many, as europe decides it’s future defence strategy.

The B1 bombers have returned to Ellsworth Airbase in South Dakota, they can easily be reactivated if needed.

A drone attack in the UK is a credible threat we let anyone in these days and large drones are easily available, it's not possible to guarantee a security area large enough to protect any airfield in UK

Yes madeleine well put. The so called special relationship is a joke pedalled by Thatcher and Reagan, but then probably relevant and reassuring. Not so now. Trump would sell his own grandmother (if he still had one) in order to justify his insane ideas.
Americans are moving over here to Europe in numbers and those who are already here are fearful that he will never be held to account for what he has done to the USA and the rest of the world. In the west we are all suffering for his madness.
And yet subsequent British governments continue to kiss his gross backside. Why? He would kick UK under the bus on a whim! I too am glad he's removed his nasty warplanes from Fairford..it will be interesting to know where he's put them.

Sago

Labour wont like having to remove the VAT on private school fees if we rejoin the EU.

Well, ironically they might!
Reports show that Labour's estimate of 40,000 pupils leaving the independent sector over 10 years were grossly incorrect. 56,000 have left already, in 15 months, so by 10 years we could be into 6 figures. All these children need placing in state schools at huge financial costs.
Maybe rejoining the EU, and removal of the 25% VAT, would mean that a fair few of them return into the private sector. Maybe it wouldn't. Labour could have shot itself in the foot.

madeleine, yes.

Whitewavemark2

We have a few options open. One being the Swiss agreement. The other being the Norwegian route. I think it unlikely st present that we will become fully paid up members again.

We won't get a Swiss agreement, it's a major point of disagreement in the EU because the Swiss abuse it so much. It's not practical to enforce the rules they should be following so they get away with it.

A Norway agreement is possible but Schengen and freedom of movement will need to be agreed, full membership highly unlikely

Whether we rejoin the european market or have some other arrangement with them, it will be much better, if we use reality and common sense and accept we are a amall island both phyically close and mentally a darn sight more close to them than to the lunatic Trump and co. Why on earth we wanted to hang onto americas coat tails and be told what and when to do by them, when it is always to our disadvantage I dont know.

I have travelled a lot and lived abroad for quite a considerable time, and the british do not seem to recognise how many people have and are working with european firms and companies. A practical organisation to make sure that there is ease of arrangements to be able to work abroad , and avoidance of any of Trumps totally untrustworthy offers, and let him take his planes back and not have them on british soil is good news as far as I can see. If you had a friend or worked with someone who could never be trusted to keep their promises, changed their minds daily and thought only of ME ME ME any sensible person would keep them at a distance at least and never trust them to do what they say.So why are we listening to the lunatic Trump, who even now is mostly concerned, not with the good of his country, but how to grab more money and be as selfish as possible. I would tend to doubt the sanity of anyone who willingly let such a person tell them what to do, so lets use common sense, and avoid relying on a single thing that man says.

It's not a case of GB deciding whether to have a referendum!
I live in the EU and, this is a generalisation, but many Europeans are genuinely perplexed and offended that Britain chose to leave after benefitting from all the help and subsidies they received during the EU years.
I'm guessing that if Britain tried to re enter, the first condition would be that we lose Sterling and switch to the Euro. None of the concessions GB previously negotiated would apply. Imagine how that would pan out!
It's clear that over half of the UK electorate is too stupid to understand this. I put it down to the dumbing down of the education system.
Peace in our time..this was Churchill's mantra after the WWII. YEAH right...look where our precious Britain is now...broken, crumbling, anarchy taking over.
I'm glad I'm old.
Ps it might not have been WC who said that so don't jump all over me. That was the essence of his idea for a united Europe with UK fully included

Try PollCheck FriedGreenTomatoes2. You’re right regarding individual polls, but PollCheck collates and compares them, and because the polls are compiled from various interests, the amalgamated version is much more accurate than they are individually. They were spot on for the last election.

Polls too have their own bias. Questions skewed in a certain way, demographics improperly represented etc. Which is why pollsters often get results wrong. And I’m sure sometimes those polled don’t tell the truth anyway. So 🤷‍♀️

It’s guessology at best. I set little store by them even when favourable to my beliefs.

You and I personally can't know what the majority of the British public can know I agree.

We can and do know what numbers of various polls conclude on such matters.

LemonJam

It's three years till next GE- so a case of wait and see.

The majority of the public wish were never left the EU and it was a mistake to do so. Can't see the number of people changing their mind any time soon.

I feel that neither you nor I can know what the majority of the British public think.

The Telegraph is a little cheerful about the UK economy - good to know. and others not.

There's no doubt however the UK economy has been adversely impacted by Brexit so redoing or developing a closer relationship with the EU would be positive for the UK economy.

"And yet France are in a mess".

Which countries inside and outside the EU are not in a mess? Is the UK in 'a mess'?

The UK would be in less of a mess inside the EU or at least with a closer relationship with the EU, than outside and continuing with status quo.

Totally agree Casdon I was just stating my own preference there.

You won’t need to hitch your wagon though FriedGreenTomatoes2, you’ll still be able to think and say what you like either way. If the electorate disagrees with you, C’est la vie.

When I was working in France, I was struck at the high level of daily commuting between the two countries. Many French commuted to London and other southern employment and visa-versa for the Brits.

This has become infinitely more difficult now and has to a large degree ceased.

I guess I was a sort of commuter, working for the government. So only commuted intermittently.

And. From the Telegraph today:

“But what if things aren’t quite that bad? What if there are actually reasons to be a little cheerful about the UK economy and its prospects? Or rather, one big reason: artificial intelligence. Recent economic data contain a few glimmers of hope that AI could be good for the UK – and because of things that we have often seen as weaknesses. The very economic model that politicians like to criticise means Britain is actually well-placed to surf the AI wave.

Last week, official estimates for economic growth in the second quarter of the year were revised up modestly, to 0.5 per cent. The UK enjoyed the fastest economic growth of any G7 industrial nation in the first half of 2026. Exactly why isn’t fully clear, but there are clues that AI is starting to deliver real benefits.

The UK is a services economy. About 80 per cent of our gross domestic product – and almost 85 per cent of our jobs – come from doing things that don’t involve making physical stuff. As a nation, we talk, we type, we plan, we advise, we sell.”

I don’t want to hitch my wagon to the EU.
No siree.

A definite no to rejoining the EU, it would be a total disaster! We are still under EU rules as Brexit was never fully implemented and that is why we are in the mess we are in. Absolute madness to even think of it.

MaizieD our family home was in Europe, as a family we were/are fully aware of freedom of movement.

And yet France are in a mess -

Sébastien Lecornu, the French prime minister, is hoping to cut €54bn (£46bn) of public spending in his budget as he battles to bring down the deficit in Europe’s second largest economy.

GrannyGravy13

At this urgent time I am see nothing great about rejoining the EU.

All countries need to work together against common foes, not just those in Europe.

While you're right about working together against a common foe life still has to go on as normal for a country's citizens.

And for the UK's citizens Brexit has not been a success. It has reduced our GDP, as predicted at the time and has made trading with the EU difficult or impossible for many. To erect barriers between us and our nearest and largest market was just madness.

Freedom of movement may not have seemed important to those who just used Europe for holidays, but for those livelihood depended on being able to move freely in and out of Europe losing it has been 'difficult'...

Time will tell.
The next GE in 3 years or whenever will be very interesting.

Gransnet demographic is not representative of the rest of the UK.

The younger demographic you go the higher the number of voters who wish to rejoin UK becomes. Current 18 to 25 years old did not have a referendum vote and a large cohort feel they have lost benefits of EU membership.

Spell check 😡

At this current time I can see

At this urgent time I am see nothing great about rejoining the EU.

All countries need to work together against common foes, not just those in Europe.