UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pivoted toward restoring the country’s ties to the EU.
In a major speech Saturday, he called for “closer alignment” with the bloc’s single market, which Britain quit after Brexit, and said it was in the “national interest” to have a closer relationship. Migration was a major driver of the Brexit vote, but the number of non-EU arrivals surged after Britain left, reducing the salience of EU migration, and trade barriers have hurt the British economy.
Accordingly, polls suggest a majority would back rejoining the single market even if it meant a return to freedom of movement with EU countries, and most think Brexit was a mistake and a failure.