Ellie Chowns

Five years since the UK formally left the European Union, the Green Party of England and Wales has reiterated its view that membership of the EU remains the ‘best option’ for the UK.

Green MP Ellie Chowns, who is the party’s global solidarity spokesperson, said: “These five years have seen the economic, social and political costs of leaving the European Union become ever clearer.

“Far from ‘taking back control’, we have all lost out.

“Young people have been deprived of the chance to easily study and work in the European Union, while small businesses have found it increasingly difficult to export, and the UK is increasingly isolated on the international stage.

“No wonder, the proportion of the public believing Brexit to have been the right decision is at its lowest since 2020.”

She added: “The Green Party is very clear that people and planet would benefit from much closer relationships between our country and the European Union.

“We will continue to press the Labour government to be braver and bolder in overcoming the negative impacts of Brexit.

“Full membership of the EU remains the best option for the UK, and we are in favour of pursuing a policy to re-join as soon as the political will is present.

“Of course, that means building the widespread public support we need before a decision to rejoin is made.

“There are win-win first steps that the government should be taking today. For instance, working with the EU on a youth mobility scheme that opens up the European Union to our youngsters.

“We should be working with the EU to tackle the twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss in the face of US President Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate agreement.

“We should also rejoin the Customs Union to begin to overcome the obstacles that small businesses have faced in trading with our closest partners since Brexit.

“While joining the Single Market would provide benefits in terms of free movement of people, goods, services and capital, membership of the Single Market without membership of the EU would not be an ideal long-term solution because the UK would not be a full partner in decision making processes.

“We’ve learned from the divisiveness of Brexit that binary choices push people apart rather than bring people together.

“So, we are proposing the use of citizens’ assemblies to support the wider public to make well-informed decisions about complicated political issues such as our future membership of the EU.”