{"id":588930,"date":"2026-05-17T12:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/588930\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:09:07","slug":"culture-secretary-says-streetings-call-for-uk-to-rejoin-eu-is-odd-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/588930\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture secretary says Streeting\u2019s call for UK to rejoin EU is \u2018odd\u2019 | Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK culture secretary has dismissed calls for Britain to re-enter the European Union as \u201codd\u201d, a day after her former cabinet colleague Wes Streeting said the country\u2019s future lies back in the bloc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lisa Nandy criticised the former health secretary on Sunday, saying his comments over the weekend risked reopening a debate that was settled with the Brexit referendum 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

With the issue now likely to feature prominently in the Makerfield byelection<\/a> and the Labour leadership contest that is expected to follow<\/a>, Nandy insisted the prime minister, Keir Starmer, was right to have ruled out rejoining the EU.<\/p>\n

She told the BBC\u2019s Laura Kuenssberg: \u201cI actually think this is just a bit odd. I listened to what Wes had to say very carefully yesterday, and I know that he\u2019s got a strong view about this, and always has had, that we shouldn\u2019t have left the European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, that\u2019s one that I share. I campaigned for remain, I think it [Brexit] was a mistake, and I think the Brexit deal has been a real problem for us. But I don\u2019t really understand why the sudden focus on Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWe\u2019re already, as a government, trying to repair in a pragmatic way the needless damage that was done by that poor Brexit deal to people\u2019s living standards in towns like mine, without reopening the circular arguments that we ended up in as a country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streeting\u2019s remarks at a speech in London<\/a> have put the issue of Britain\u2019s relationship with the EU high on the agenda in the Makerfield byelection, where Greater Manchester\u2019s Labour mayor, Andy Burnham, intends to run on a promise to challenge Starmer for the party leadership.<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting in London on Saturday. Photograph: Richard Gardner\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Streeting, who this week resigned from the cabinet in protest against Starmer\u2019s leadership<\/a>, said on Saturday: \u201cIn 2026, the British people increasingly see that in a dangerous world we must club together, both to rebuild our economy and trade, and improve our defence against the shared threats from Russian aggression and America First.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep. We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain\u2019s future lies with Europe \u2013 and one day back in the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he intended to stand if a leadership contest was started \u2013 though it remains unclear whether he has enough parliamentary support to do so.<\/p>\n

The byelection has not yet been formally called and nor has Burnham been chosen as Labour\u2019s candidate, yet his policy positions<\/a> are already being carefully picked over as signs for what he might do if he goes on to become prime minister.<\/p>\n

Burnham told ITV News on Saturday that rejoining the EU would not be a focus in his campaign. \u201cIn the long term there is a case for that, but I\u2019m not advocating that in this byelection,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, what I am saying is focus now domestically. Britain has got to focus very much on the here and now and the issues that are affecting people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Josh Simons<\/a>, the Labour MP who is vacating the Makerfield seat to make way for his ally Burnham, suggested that nationalisation of utilities could be an important part of his pitch to voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy, water, social housing \u2013 those things that are the basics of our lives that we all depend on \u2013 have gotten so expensive,\u201d he told the BBC on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd one of the reasons why they\u2019ve gotten so expensive \u2013 not the only, but one of the reasons why they\u2019ve gotten so expensive \u2013 is that we privatise a lot of them, and often the bills that we pay go to the shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, allies of Starmer say the prime minister has not given up hope of remaining in office, insisting he will enter the race if a leadership election is called.<\/p>\n

Asked on Sunday whether she thought Starmer would run in a leadership contest, Nandy said: \u201cHe said he will \u2026 I haven\u2019t spoken to him this weekend, but I\u2019ve spoken to him several times over the last week, and obviously he\u2019s shown before that he\u2019s up for a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK culture secretary has dismissed calls for Britain to re-enter the European Union as \u201codd\u201d, a day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-588930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}