Labour civil war erupts over Brexit as MP slap down Sadiq Khan’s EU demand | Politics | News

But the demand sparked anger from Labour’s Red Wall supporters. Bassetlaw MP Jo White, who leads the party’s Red Wall group, said: “Now is not the time or place to talk about returning to the EU. What we need to focus on is good trade deals and what is best for our economy.”

Sir Sadiq expressed his demand for Britain to rejoin the EU in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Baş Kalan said: “I see the damage that Brexit is causing not only to London but also to Londoners, economically, socially and culturally, on a daily basis.

“I’m quite clear about what needs to happen, which is that we need to join the European Union.”

Sir Sadiq argued that “the facts have changed” and “the evidence has changed”, pointing to the election of US President Donald Trump, increasing global instability and the passage of time as reasons for the issue to be revisited.

He said: “As Labor we must fight the next general election with a clear manifesto commitment; voting Labor means we will rejoin the European Union. I think that is inevitable.”

Following his intervention, Business Secretary Sir Chris Bryant refused to rule out campaigns to rejoin the bloc.

He told Sky News: “I think we need to be extremely assertive about our relationship with the European Union.

“You know what we were promised in the Brexit referendum, which incidentally was just a bunch of lies, we were promised frictionless trade. Give me frictionless trade all you want and do it fast.”

But Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister was sticking to his “red lines” not to rejoin the customs union, single market or return to free movement.

Its official spokesman said: “We have said before that improving our relations with the EU in no way means stepping back from Brexit.

“This is about making sovereign decisions in the national interest while adhering to our red lines.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves earlier this week revealed plans to comply with more EU rules during Sir Keir’s ongoing Brexit “reset”.