Former chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Britain's future lies in the European Union, arguing that Brexit has made the country "poorer, weaker and less secure", in her first major intervention since leaving the Treasury.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Reeves backed Prime Minister Andy Burnham's decision to open a debate on Britain's relationship with Brussels, in the most explicit pro-rejoining statement from a senior Labour figure since the party took office.
"I am proud of the progress we have already made in strengthening our relationship with the European Union," Reeves wrote. "Brexit has made us poorer, weaker and less secure. There is a debate to be had about our future relationship with Europe, and I welcome Andy Burnham's leadership in facing up to this. No one in the Treasury ever doubted where my instincts were."
"It is incumbent on supporters of our re-entry to make the argument"
Reeves went further than anything she said while in office, when the government ruled out rejoining the single market or the customs union. "I do believe Britain's future lies in the European Union," she wrote. "However, it is incumbent on supporters of our re-entry to make the argument, demonstrate tangible benefits and to get the next steps right."
Ahead of the UK-EU summit later this month, she said supporters should look, at a minimum, for confirmation of the youth mobility scheme negotiated earlier this year and, she hoped, progress towards entry into the SAFE defence partnership.
Why the intervention matters now
The intervention is significant because Reeves helped to craft Labour's 2024 election manifesto, which explicitly ruled out a return to EU membership, the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement. She left the Treasury in July when Burnham took office, and on Monday she is due to deliver her first public speech since leaving, at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Burnham has set out two stages. The first stays within the 2024 manifesto: outside the customs union and single market, with no return of free movement. He has said rejoining the single market could be done without a referendum if Labour put it in its manifesto, but that fully rejoining would need another in-out vote. He has also told ministers not to air their own opinions on how to approach Brexit, and reports say some ministers, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, worry about the effect of a revised deal on migration.
An Ipsos survey shared with The Independent found 56% would vote to rejoin, up four points since May, with 30% for staying out. Reeves, in her article, does not set out a timetable for rejoining, nor does she say whether a referendum would be needed.
Sources: The Sunday Times, 1 November 2026; The Independent, 1 November 2026; The Gazette/PA, 1 November 2026.