{"id":658957,"date":"2026-06-26T07:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/658957\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T07:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:54:11","slug":"britain-must-rejoin-the-eu-single-market-within-five-years-sir-john-major-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/658957\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain must rejoin the EU single market within five years, Sir John Major says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain should rejoin the European Union<\/a>\u2019s single market<\/a> within the next five years, Sir John Major<\/a> has said as he issued a scathing critique of the impact of Brexit <\/a>\u2013 and those behind the decision to leave.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with The Independent\u2019s editor in chief Geordie Greig to mark the tenth anniversary of the EU referendum, the former prime minister called on the government to be \u201chonest\u201d with the British people about the devastating damage of leaving the EU and said the new prime minister should make closer relations with Europe a central part of their premiership.<\/p>\n

\u2018The aim within the next five years must be to rejoin the single market,\u2019 he said. \u2018But that will have a price. We are going to have to be absolutely honest with the British people. If we go back into the single market, we say \u201chere are the gains we proposed and here is the price that we will have to pay for it.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

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Signing up to the single market would mean having to accept a wide range of EU rules and the return of freedom of movement for people between the UK and Europe \u2013 both of which would prove controversial.<\/p>\n

But Sir John said it was an important step in repairing the broken relationship and should pave the way for a longer-term goal of fully rejoining the EU.<\/p>\n

He was speaking to The Independent as part of its Europe: The Way Back campaign<\/a>, which is calling for the UK to rebuild its relationship with Europe. In a wide-ranging interview, Sir John also shared his concerns over prime minister in waiting Andy Burnham, <\/a>praised Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for unifying the party and outlined the big mistake that he believed led to Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s downfall as Labour leader.<\/p>\n

Watch The Independent editor in chief Geordie Greig in conversation with Sir John Major in full below: <\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

In a withering attack on the leaders of the Brexit<\/a> campaign including Nigel Farage<\/a>, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove over the economic damage of Brexit, he said: \u201cMichael Gove said after we leave we will hold all the cards. Well, the only card they held were P45s for people who lost their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir John said their claim that it would allow Britain to \u201ctake back control\u201d was \u201can empty slogan\u201d, and that they had promised a \u201cland of milk and honey\u201d \u2013 but millions of people had \u201clost out\u201d instead.<\/p>\n

Sir John, the Conservative prime minister from 1990 to 1997, warned that every man and woman in the UK is worse off financially as a result of leaving the EU. He referenced the Bank of England\u2019s recent analysis which found that the British economy was an estimated six to eight per cent smaller as a result of Brexit.<\/p>\n

\u201dEven if you take the lower figure we have lost about \u00a3100bn worth of trade each year \u2013 that \u00a3100bn would have yielded about \u00a340bn worth of tax to the exchequer. If we’d had that \u00a340bn annually over the last few years many of the di\ufb03cult and unpopular decisions that have been taken would not have been necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

For exclusive analysis on how Britain can rebuild its relationship with Europe, sign up for our weekly Europe: The Way Back newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The \u2018impossible promises\u2019 of Brexiteers<\/p>\n

He derided the Brexiteers\u2019 \u2018take back control\u2019 slogan, their pledge to \u201cregain sovereignty\u201d and accused them of making \u201cimpossible promises\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sir John said: \u201cWe know who the losers are. It is every wallet, every purse and every balance sheet in the country. They are the losers. There\u2019s only one country in the world that is completely sovereign and that is North Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed Brexiteers \u201cknow in their heart\u201d that Brexit had \u201cfailed to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dIf you’re seeking to make Brexit succeed after ten years, you are admitting tacitly that it has failed thus far. It has failed thus far and I think will continue to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"SirSir John Major in conversation with The Independent editor in chief Geordie Greig (The Independent)<\/p>\n

Sir John said he was outraged that having successfully spearheaded the Brexit campaign and \u201csignificantly damaged our country,\u201d that Mr Farage now seeks more political power by bidding to become prime minister.<\/p>\n

He remained \u201cangry\u201d at \u201cthe way the (referendum) vote was perverted by what was said would be the outcome of leaving the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt implied a land of milk and honey, we were going to be stronger and more sovereign. None of those things have actually come about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Change is coming from the next generation<\/p>\n

Sir John said there was no \u2018imminent\u2019 prospect of the UK rejoining the European Union, but said young people hold the key to whether the UK returns to the EU in the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201dThere is a change coming\u2026 the next generation. The vast vote to leave largely came from people who were elderly. As of this day, 68 per cent of people think leaving was a mistake and 32 think it was not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intervention is a devastating analysis from a former prime minister whose time in Downing Street in the 1990s was plagued by eurosceptics – the so-called \u201cMaastricht Treaty rebels” who laid the groundwork for the UK\u2019s Brexit vote a decade ago.<\/p>\n

More than two in three voters now saw Brexit as a mistake, said Sir John, who observed: \u201cSo I think we will get back into Europe.\u201d But, he admitted, the negotiations would not be easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to take it slowly and make sure everybody is fully on board. So it’s not too early for people to start arguing the case, because it will take a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform UK offer no hope<\/p>\n

Sir John dismissed the \u2018crude hostility\u2019 and lack of \u2018positivity\u2019 of Farage\u2019s Reform UK.<\/p>\n

\u201dWhat is their unique selling brand? They don’t o\ufb00er any inspiration or hope. The button they push is migration \u2013 which is falling, and so is their vote. And that that will continue to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he issued a fresh demand to Mr Farage to reveal more details about his \u00a35 million donation from foreign based British crypto currency billionaire Christopher Harborne, which he equated to the lifetime earnings of five Britons on a \u00a320,000-a-year salary. Mr Farage\u2019s Reform UK was in danger of becoming \u201cthe fully fledged subsidiary of overseas billionaire money\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

\"NigelNigel Farage must reveal more details about his \u00a35million donation, says Sir John (PA)<\/p>\n

The public, Sir John said, had a right to expect Mr Farage to come clean about how and whether any strings were attached to the gift.<\/p>\n

It was \u201can extraordinary sum of money\u201d and Farage had offered \u2018a range of explanations for it.<\/p>\n

Sir John said: \u2018\u201cIt’s for my security,\u201d he [Farage] said. Then on another occasion, he said \u201cit’s for me getting Brexit through.\u201d And then on another occasion he said \u2018it’s for me to spend exactly as I like on cars.\u2019 He is a public figure aiming for the highest position in our land, and we need to know what obligations he may have and to whom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir John continued: \u201cMany people have a salary after tax and National insurance contributions of no more than \u00a320,000. That in a working life of 50 years is \u00a31 million. Nigel Farage has just been gifted a sum that is equivalent to the total amount earned in five working lives for these people, and he seems to think it is entirely a personal matter, and that it is an insult for everybody else to look at that.<\/p>\n

\u201dIf I were given \u00a35 million, I think I would feel a little obligated to the donor. So what is going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

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