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🇬🇧🇪🇺 “Those of us who want to rejoin must now make the argument.” Rachel Reeves is no longer simply arguing for a better Brexit deal. She explicitly says: “I do believe Britain’s future lies in the European Union.” And: “Brexit has made us poorer, weaker and less secure.” She welcomes Andy Burnham’s leadership in reopening the debate and says supporters of re-entry must now demonstrate the tangible benefits and get the next steps right. The silence that has paralysed Westminster over Brexit has finally broken and polling shows support for rejoining the EU is a large growing majority. 🇬🇧🇪🇺

‼️ This is a constitutional bombshell. For the first time, a British prime minister has confirmed that UK authorities believe Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum. That does not prove Russia changed the result, nor does it establish criminal involvement by Leave campaigners. But it confirms that a hostile state attempted to interfere in the most consequential democratic decision Britain has taken in generations. The 2020 Russia Report could not reach a conclusion because the government had neither commissioned nor supplied a proper post-referendum assessment. Boris Johnson’s government then rejected the Intelligence and Security Committee’s request for one. Andy Burnham must now publish an unclassified account setting out: • what Russia did; • which voters and organisations were targeted; • how extensive the operation was; • what ministers and intelligence agencies knew; and • why the truth was withheld for so long. Nobody can credibly insist that the decision of 2016 is eternally sacred while simultaneously arguing that the public must never be allowed to reconsider it, especially now that Russian interference has been officially confirmed. Brexit was authorised by a referendum conducted without these facts. Britain deserves the truth and a democratic opportunity to decide its future again.

🇬🇧 Westminster kept the Brexit cupboard firmly marked “DO NOT OPEN”. Now Andy Burnham has opened it and out tumble the unicorns, the £350 million bus, the blue passports, “Brexit means Brexit” and endless cries of “the will of the people”. All the props and slogans of Britain’s greatest political confidence trick. Notice what isn’t inside: a single tangible Brexit benefit. The door is open now. The country can finally clear out the wreckage. 🇬🇧🇪🇺

Brexit took Britain from being a leading power at the heart of a 500 million consumer market to navel-gazing irrelevance on the edge of Europe. We’ve lost real leverage over Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, the Falklands, Chagos Islands and other territories. Record numbers of Brits are now leaving to find a better life abroad. The real winners? Putin, Xi, and a more transactional America. A weaker, isolated Britain serves our adversaries perfectly.