The Labour and Liberal Democrat silence over Brexit will cost the country

We need to repair the damage done to UK-EU relations, writes Vince Cable, so where are the Remainer political parties?

UK-EU relations need fixing (AFP/Getty)

In the middle of the cost-of-living crisis, people, understandably, have other things on their minds than Brexit. But it is worth remembering that this crisis primarily derives from a European energy shock caused by restricted Russian gas supplies.

A crucial part of the response is close European cooperation. And if Ukraine, with our help, can repel the Russian invasion, its declared ambition as a free sovereign nation is to join the EU. But our government is paralysed because of a seemingly endless Tory leadership contest decided by an unrepresentative group of Brexiters.

Outside that goldfish bowl, opinion is shifting. An Opinium survey showed that 60 per cent of voters (including 40 per cent of Leave voters) think Brexit has “gone badly”. Ipsos found, in June, that 45 per cent of those surveyed (including 22 per cent of Leave voters) felt that Brexit had “made life worse”. Support for Brexit is collapsing, but its core support remains.

Evidence of Brexit’s economic damage is growing. The economy is measurably smaller than it otherwise would be. Investment, hit by Brexit uncertainty, still hasn’t recovered. Trade is down. Sectors badly hit by Brexit-induced labour shortages are still struggling. Alternative visa arrangements are not in place. And inflation is worse than it should be. After a global pandemic and escalating gas prices, Brexit is making a bad situation worse. And there’s more to come:

• The government has managed to postpone the introduction of checks on food imports from the EU three times.
• British science faces exclusion from the EU’s valuable, collaborative, Horizon science programme.
• The government is committed to legislation nullifying the negotiated Northern Ireland protocol.

A worst-case scenario could lead to a trade war with our European neighbours. Strangely, the Remainer political parties have been largely silent. They may have concluded that they need the support of soft-Brexiteers to achieve a breakthrough in the northern Red Wall and the southwestern section of the Blue Wall. But there is a price to be paid for this silence.

The next few years will consist of endless battles forced by hard-line Brexiters. Their mission is to pull us even further away from the EU and make exiting the single market irreversible. We cannot be silent in response to this.

There are 2,400 EU laws still in place in the UK, mostly uncontroversial and beneficial to us all. But the anti-European fanatics are now dedicating their political lives to scrapping them, regardless of the costs involved. The more significant task is to repair the damage already done to our relations with the EU. The Liberal Democrats have set out a staged process to rebuild trade and cooperation with Europe, and Labour has set out a five-point plan to restore trust and goodwill. Neither is contemplating re-joining the EU in the foreseeable future and re-joining the single market, and customs union is not yet on the agenda.

There is a vast amount to do for those who truly care about rebuilding relationships with Europe. As part of the mission, I have taken on the role of vice president of the European Movement, and I am urging others to work with us. We have our work cut out: a new prime minister, an election less than two years away and a mammoth presence planned for party conference season. But things are changing; opinions are shifting.

We can win the battle for the soul of our country.

Sir Vince Cable is vice president of the European Movement. He was secretary of state for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010-2015 during the coalition government, and leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017-201