London mayor pushes Labour to lay groundwork for closer EU ties

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called on the UK government to begin laying the groundwork for Britain to rejoin the European Union, arguing that the case should be made well ahead of the next general election.

Speaking to the press ahead of the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Khan said the government should move beyond the UK’s current post-Brexit arrangements and prepare the public for closer ties with Brussels, I News reports.

He suggested that this could include a return to the EU customs union and, ultimately, renewed EU membership.

“We’ve got to start the work now… You can’t, a week before a general election, pull out of a hat this rabbit of a manifesto and say we’re going to rejoin in six weeks’ time,” Khan told the newspaper.

“The heavy lifting, the pitch rolling must be done now, explaining to the country the disbenefits of being outside the European Union and the benefits of being part of this family.”

Khan has previously described Brexit as the “biggest act of economic self-harm in the UK’s history.”

His latest intervention places him among the more outspoken senior Labour figures on the issue and goes further than recent comments by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has argued that Britain should work towards rejoining the bloc over the next decade.

The remarks come amid renewed debate within Labour over the UK’s future relationship with Europe. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled greater openness to closer engagement with the EU, although ministers remain divided over the pace and scope of any further rapprochement.

Khan, a longstanding critic of Brexit, said politicians should begin explaining the potential benefits of EU membership to voters now rather than waiting until the next election campaign.

By Vafa Guliyeva