Commentator Piers Morgan called out politicians for omitting Brexit from their election campaigns last night.
While critiquing the first leadership debate of the election so far, Morgan told BBC Newsnight: “The great unmentionable in all this is Brexit. Nobody is talking about Brexit.
“Eight years after that referendum, I was someone who voted Remain but was adamant that you can’t just have another referendum immediately.”
The former TalkTV host said while he thought the initial “re-moaning was ridiculous”, he thinks it is now time to consider voting on the topic again.
Morgan said: “After eight years, given the state of the supposed ‘control’ of our borders, which is terrible, and given the self-harming effect on our economy, surely it’s time that Labour had an honest conversation about where the polling is on Brexit, which is where most people in this country would like another referendum, to see if they would like what they’ve been given.”
Although the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, the full effects of our departure are just being felt.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has said Brexit has caused a 4% hit to the economy – and the full impact is expected be felt for years to come.
Migration numbers also remain exceptionally high.
Labour called for another referendum on the UK’s EU membership back in 2019, before the country had officially left the trading bloc.
At the time, Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the opposition and parliament was deadlocked over the terms of the withdrawal agreement.
Corbyn said he wanted to stop “no deal” or a “damaging Tory Brexit”.
Since then, Corbyn has lost the Labour whip and the party’s leader Keir Starmer – who is widely expected to win the next election, according to the polls – said last September there is no case for returning to the EU.
He has stayed quiet on the topic ever since.
The Conservatives have not mentioned Brexit at all, despite spending the whole of the 2019 general election arguing that they were the ones who “got Brexit done”.
However, the topic is only more likely to rear its head now Chief Brexiter Nigel Farage has just returned to frontline politics.
To great fanfare, he announced this week that his eighth attempt to run for parliament in Clacton as the new Reform UK leader.