Gen Z push for UK to rejoin EU meets resistance

The United Kingdom's Brexit debate has reawakened, as a generational push for a vote on rejoining the European Union collides with corporate resistance and fresh warnings about the steep cost of membership of the bloc.

Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the UK voting to leave the EU, and followed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing his resignation on Monday, to make way for a seventh PM in the past decade.

Political inconsistency following turmoil within and between parties has caused the country's European policy to become even more uncertain.

A new poll of Gen Z people, or those aged 18 to 28, conducted by the think tank More in Common and shared with The Guardian newspaper indicated that 60 percent of the cohort would vote to rejoin the bloc if given the opportunity, compared with 9 percent who would vote to stay out.

The survey of 440 young UK residents found 50 percent judge Brexit a failure, while 16 percent call it a success. Some 34 percent said they were undecided.

Luke Tryl, executive director of More In Common, said: "For many Gen Z Britons, the Brexit referendum was formative to their political 'coming of age'. In focus groups, many in this age group say Brexit was the first political event they were vividly aware of — too young to vote, but with distinct memories of that campaign and the years of debate that followed."

There is growing pressure from the left of British politics to rejoin the EU, but within UK boardrooms the mood is very different.

The leader of the UK's largest business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry, or CBI, said that despite the economic pain of leaving the EU, businesses do not want to rejoin.

Speaking to the Financial Times, CBI Director-General Rain Newton-Smith said: "The evidence is compelling and indisputable that Brexit has created costs for business."

But Newton-Smith said "businesses aren't looking to re-litigate the referendum".

"None of the business leaders I speak to want to reopen that debate," she added.

With Starmer's departure, there are fresh calls from political leaders in the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party for a deeper rapprochement with Brussels than had been offered by Starmer and his limited "reset".

UK businesses are now weighing the stance of his likely successor, Andy Burnham, who once indicated support for rejoining the EU but who has since rowed back, saying membership is not a priority.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that re-entry would likely be on Brussels' terms, with European ministers having declared generally that there would be no "cherry-picking of policies" and that the UK must not consider itself "an equal partner". This is interpreted to mean that if the UK is allowed to rejoin, it will have to become a full member of the bloc, adopting its currency and visa policy.

Alongside this, there would be a potentially heavy financial burden, according to Matthew Elliott, chief executive officer of the Vote Leave campaign ahead of the 2016 referendum.

Elliott estimated it would cost the UK at least 22 billion pounds ($29.1 billion) a year in contributions if it rejoined the EU.

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com