Going all the way? 25,000 emails urge MPs to debate Britain’s EU future

More than 25,000 emails have been sent to MPs urging them to attend a parliamentary debate on Britain’s future relationship with the European Union, with more than 650 MPs receiving at least one message, and some receiving more than 100.

On Monday October 12, Parliament will debate the UK’s future relationship with Europe, following a government petition that attracted more than 100,000 signatures.

Ahead of the debate, the European Movement UK launched a campaign encouraging people to contact their MPs and ask them to attend.

On October 7, European Movement UK chair Mike Galsworthy announced on X that more than 25,000 emails had already been sent to MPs across the UK, urging them to take part in the debate.

The campaign message asks MPs to consider the UK’s long-term relationship with Europe, arguing decisions made now will help determine “what kind of economy and country we have in five, ten and twenty years’ time.”

It points to the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence, global trade, climate change, European security and the competition for new industries and investment, arguing that Britain needs a more ambitious discussion about its place in Europe.

And that discussion is now taking place against a different political backdrop.

The parliamentary debate comes as Andy Burnham has explicitly put rejoining the EU on the table as one possible option for Britain’s long-term relationship with Europe. He has moved away from the previous Labour government’s red lines around the single market and customs union, and said Britain could ultimately “go all the way.”

Speaking in a series of interviews following his Labour conference speech, Burnham said Brexit had done “more harm than good” and set out four possible paths, maintaining the current arrangements, pursuing a customs union, returning to the single market, or going all the way to full EU membership.

Speaking to the BBC, he said the government would consider “what is doable” and examine the “pros and cons” of each option.

Asked directly whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the EU, the Prime Minister told Radio 4’s Today programme that he wanted to “look at the options.”

 “We could stay as we are,” he said. “That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay.

“We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market or we could go all the way.”