Right-Wing Media Watch: Express drags Brexit back into the headlines –then blames Labour

There was no shortage of promises during the Brexit referendum campaign. What was missing was an honest assessment of the economic and political consequences of leaving the EU. A decade on, those consequences have become part of the national conversation, while polling consistently suggests public opinion has shifted towards reversing the decision.

Now, with the prospect of a more open debate about Britain’s future relationship with Europe, the Brexit-supporting right appears keen to shut that conversation down before it gathers momentum.

Enter the Daily Express.

The newspaper began the week with an especially combative front-page splash, declaring:

“WE MUST NOT INDULGE THE PM’S EU FANTASY”

The words came from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who warned reopening the Brexit debate would “put the country on pause.”

“Labour’s plans to rip up Brexit are threatening to tear Britain apart,” the front page announced, reporting Badenoch’s criticism of Andy Burnham’s calls for an honest discussion about Britain’s relationship with the EU. It also suggested reopening old wounds could reignite family arguments and bring the country to a standstill.

The article turned its attention to Rachel Reeves, who has argued Britain’s future lay inside the European Union and described Brexit as having made the country “poorer, weaker and less secure.”

The Express presented this as Labour joining a push to drag Britain back into the EU, while reminding readers of the party’s 2024 election commitment to remain outside the bloc and rule out free movement, single market membership and a customs union.

Needless to say, the frontpage was mocked online, with critics questioning the newspaper’s apparent determination to dismiss any discussion of reversing Brexit.

“Not even now that it’s the ‘will of the people’?” asked Sheffield for Europe.

“The Express in its own fantasy world,” one person replied.

“In a very unstable world we are much stronger together, both economically and militarily. Our future lies within the EU,” another commented.

“A good policy for a happy life is always do the opposite of what the Express or Daily Mail advise,” read another post.

Rather than Labour being the ones reopening old wounds, it’s the right, it seems, which is dragging up the very arguments it claims it wants to leave behind.

At Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Badenoch was already attacking Burnham over his call for an honest discussion about Britain’s future relationship with Europe. She demanded to know why he had chosen Budget week to reopen the Brexit debate.

Burnham defended his position, pointing to the upcoming UK-EU summit aimed at reducing trade barriers and improving cooperation on migration.

Badenoch went even further, insisting that the government was already benefiting from the freedoms secured by the Conservatives.

There is an irony here. The very politicians and newspapers accusing others of reopening Brexit are repeatedly dragging the issue back into the headlines themselves. Rather than engaging with the evidence about Brexit’s consequences or the public’s changing attitudes, the response is to portray any reconsideration as a threat to national stability.

And then there is the question of what the public actually thinks.

A major new Ipsos poll found 56 percent of Britons would vote to apply to rejoin the EU, up four percentage points since May.

Just 30 percent said they would vote to stay out, a three-point fall.

Among those considered likely to vote in a future referendum, support for rejoining rose to 63 percent, against 34 percent opposed.

The survey also found that 54 percent believe EU membership would benefit Britain’s economy in the long term, while 53 percent think it would improve national security.

The Express and its fellow Brexit cheerleaders might prefer to pretend that the 2016 referendum settled the matter for all time. But if anything, the latest polling suggests the bigger fantasy is the idea that Britain can simply ignore the growing appetite for a different relationship with Europe.

Perhaps it’s time the Express stepped out of its own fantasy world and confronted the reality that, for an increasing number of Britons, the future of Brexit is very much up for discussion.