Nandy Says Britain Faces "Trade-offs" in Seeking Closer EU Ties
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has acknowledged that Britain will face "trade-offs" as it seeks closer ties with the European Union, and said the prime minister should pursue those ties to fulfil promises made at the time of the referendum on leaving the bloc. ITV News reported her remarks on Sunday, 8 November.
Asked whether she wanted the UK to go back into the EU, Nandy did not give a direct answer. "I don't know if that's a choice we have," she said.
Nandy supported Remain in the referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. In a BBC interview on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, she said: "I do not believe that anybody wants to repeat circular arguments about in or out, leave or remain." She added that "over the last decade we have let the British people down very badly."
Speaking to Sky News, she said it was important to "be honest" and that "the deal that we got is not what we were promised." She signalled that she still holds her stated position that Britain should not rejoin the EU.
Other ministers have also addressed the question. The Guardian reported that Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood are cautious about pushing to fully rejoin the EU. Andy Burnham plans an "honest conversation" with the public about Brexit, the UK's departure from the European Union. He will attend the European Political Community summit, a gathering of European leaders, in Dublin on Thursday.
A Brexit reset meeting is scheduled for 20 November in Brussels. Agreements on agriculture and food, emissions trading and youth experience visas are expected to be confirmed there. Emissions trading is a system for limiting carbon emissions by allowing them to be bought and sold as permits, and youth experience visas allow young people to live and work in another country for a set period.
