He says the loss of income caused by leaving the EU<\/a> is equivalent to imposing \u201ca punishing tax<\/a> every day\u201d on the UK.<\/p>\n Writing in Sir Anthony Seldon\u2019s book The Brexit<\/a> Effect, which is being serialised in The Independent, Mr Miliband calls on the Labour government to \u201cgive new political momentum\u201d to rebuilding closer ties with the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n And he warns that the UK will pay an even heavier price if it does not meet this challenge urgently.<\/p>\n The serialisation is part of a new campaign by The Independent on how Britain can rebuild its shattered links with Europe. The campaign \u2013 Europe: The Way Back \u2013 will consist of news, analysis, interviews and live events examining the impact of Brexit and what our relationship with Europe should look like.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Mr Miliband writes: \u201cBritain remains a European country. We need to behave like one, cooperate like we understand its implications and realise that the rest of the world does not owe us anything. If we don\u2019t get our act together, more fool us. We need to renew our cooperation that has been sabotaged by Brexit.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Miliband, who stood in the 2010 Labour leadership contest and narrowly lost to his brother Ed, a member of Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s cabinet, states: \u201cWe are suffering a punishing Brexit tax<\/a> every day.<\/p>\n \u201cEstimates put the cost of being outside the customs union at 0.5\u20131 per cent of GDP, so of the order of \u00a315\u201330bn a year. <\/p>\n \u201dWe simply cannot afford to stand still on these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n It comes as the UK\u2019s relationship with Europe has been thrust back into the political spotlight, particularly within the Labour Party. <\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer said that closer ties with the continent would be central to his response to last month\u2019s bruising local election results<\/a>, adding that he believes Brexit has \u201chas held back our young people\u201d. <\/p>\n The prime minister told The Mirror: \u201cI’m not going to let Brexit stand in the way of their opportunities, and therefore we’ll push forward on that.”<\/p>\n With a leadership challenge to Sir Keir expected, Wes Streeting – who resigned from the cabinet following those results and declared that he would stand in any such contest – made his opening pitch with a call for Britain to rejoin the European Union<\/a>. <\/p>\n Additionally, Andy Burnham, who has said he would join the leadership race if he is successful in this month\u2019s Makerfield by-election<\/a>, told last year\u2019s Labour Party conference that he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc in \u201cmy lifetime\u201d.<\/p>\n The mayor of Greater Manchester added: \u201cPeople prosper more when they\u2019re part of unions. That\u2019s my belief, and I\u2019ll say it clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n Now fighting to win a seat that voted in favour of leaving in 2016, Mr Burnham has since told ITV: \u201cI\u2019ve said in the long-term there is a case for that, but I’m not advocating that in this byelection.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Miliband, now president of the US based International Rescue Committee, says Britons \u201care \u00a316,000 per year per person poorer in the UK than we would have been if we had sustained pre-2008 levels of economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n In December, research from King\u2019s College London, Stanford University, the Bank of England and the University of Nottingham found that business investment is estimated to be between 12 and 18 per cent lower than the counterfactual path had Brexit not occurred.<\/p>\n The study also found that employment and productivity were each down by 3 to 4 per cent compared with where they would have been without Brexit.<\/p>\n Leaving the EU had not solved the immigration problem either, Mr Miliband said.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s remember that when we were members of the EU, we had the right to deport every person who arrived in a small boat from France back to the country in which they first touched European soil,\u201d Mr Miliband writes.<\/p>\n \u201dOrderly, fair and speedy migration rules and decisions are in the interests of refugees as well as host populations.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Miliband says the \u201cgrowing global disorder\u201d makes Britain\u2019s relationship with the EU and other European nations \u201dmore important not less\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201dWe face a common threat from an increasingly anarchic form of \u2018might makes right\u2019 globalisation. We need to look for stabilising buoys in this stormy sea.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds that the government\u2019s aim should not be for the UK \u201cto seek to restore lost dominance\u201d, but to recover the \u201cmoral clarity and political vision of who we are and what we stand for\u201d.<\/p>\n Join the community<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/534101.jpg\")
David Miliband says the \u2018growing global disorder\u2019 means Britain\u2019s relationship with Europe is more important than ever (PA)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4tsehrdygmfds.jpeg\")
(AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/44fa95c49c35f27d89c4380736bb38a1Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzgwMzk1MzEy-2.84502696.jpg\")
Sir Keir Starmer wishes to develop closer ties with Europe (PA Wire)<\/p>\n