“It’s on us, now, to seize the moment to make that possibility a reality. To turn an abstract promise of a better future someday, into an actual fact of a measurably improved today.” - Naomi Smith
Oh, it’s been a long, long time coming.
After a divisive referendum; after aeons of parliamentary time wasted on indicative and meaning(less) votes; after some £240bn of unnecessary damage to our economy; after we hampered our businesses, hurt our universities, held back our research scientists; after we needlessly removed the rights of a generation then too young to cast a ballot; as the chief architects of this mess fought to denigrate our politics and our society even further; after all that and more, finally, finally, after ten long years, a Prime Minister of this country stepped onto a conference stage and spelled it out.
As Andy Burnham told the cheering party faithful on a Tuesday afternoon in Liverpool:
“I cannot say to you truthfully that where we are is good enough. Brexit has done more harm than good. We need to restore a higher level of growth and prosperity for Britain.
“So, I will take the opportunity around the summit to lay out to you, to lay out to the country, what I believe the different options are for Britain’s long-term relationship with our European partners… And I will see if we can find consensus around one which will give us clarity about our position, and the future of the continent we live in.”
You didn’t exactly need a magnifying glass to read between the lines. And you could drive an articulated lorry through the wide open political space he’s leaving himself - that is, if it wasn’t held up at Dover. But Burnham wasn’t finished there. Speaking to the BBC afterwards, he made his position even clearer.
“We could look at what [former Chancellor] George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market, or we could go all the way.”
All the way. All. The. Way. What a moment.
For the pro-European, progressive majority of this country: the forward-thinking and fair-minded voters who make up the vast bulk of these islands. For the often quiet, steadfast plurality of people who - whether or not they started out that way - have come to the conclusion that we made a terrible mistake in 2016. That in choosing to tear ourselves away from our continental partners - our largest market, our allies, our neighbours, and our friends - we took a wrong turn.
The ten-year silence is broken. The genie is firmly out of the bottle. And crucially, the majority supporting EU membership is demonstrably real. No YouGov poll on the question has fallen below 50% for more than four years, and is often close to 60%. Less than a third of Brits now say they believe we were right to leave. What’s more, our landmark MRP and research series has revealed the breadth and depth of that support, across every constituency in Great Britain.
We’ve run the numbers and they are resoundingly clear. The economic and business consensus is rock solid, shored up once again by independent econometric experts, and backed by former IFS director Paul Johnson, and former CBI President Paul Drechsler. On the politics, the drumbeat is unignorable. Every EU relations policy - beyond the UK Government’s current and restrictive red lines - is likely to increase the electorate’s openness to voting Labour.
We didn’t stop there. Our megapoll with YouGov showed restoring our EU membership is the most popular UK-EU relations policy in every GB parliamentary constituency, bar four Reform UK-held seats, and in every British nation and region.
And just last week, as Labour conference got underway, we brought out the big guns. Yet more MRP polling revealed pledging to restore the UK’s EU membership could be the difference between a Labour-led government and a Reform-led government at the next election. Deafening alarm bell to MPs, ministers and strategists? Ding, ding, ding.
As John Maynard Keynes never actually said: “When the facts change, I change my mind.”* It’s inescapable. The facts have changed.
The country has changed its mind.
However, while Burnham’s own position - and the country’s very clear direction of travel - may be evident, so far - in reality - all the Prime Minister has done is oh-so-tentatively re-open the door to a political possibility. A chink in the armour. A hairline crack in the glass ceiling. History is teetering in the balance.
We have a real chance now, to put things right - and our politicians, of all parties, need to hear us - all of us - screaming it from the rooftops.
It’s on us, now, to seize the moment to make that possibility a reality. To turn an abstract promise of a better future someday, into an actual fact of a measurably improved today.
To generate the colossal economic transformation - the £92bn for our economy, at the very least - and the political landing space this opportunity offers.
This is a pivot point for our country. For every scientist, trader, and small business. For every car-maker, construction worker and world-class creative, from Clydeside to Cowes, Cornwall to Costessey.
For a generation of our young people, deserving of so much more after their formative years were stolen by a pandemic. For our children, who we owe a better, safer, and greener future to. We’ve never had a greater opportunity to make it so.
Since 2026 got underway, at Best for Britain, we have been working even harder than usual. Whether it’s our econometric and electoral analysis, message crafting and testing, arming allies in Parliament with data, and launching major digital campaigns, it’s paying off.
You can see the impact of our relentless work in the changing conversations. The unsayable becoming the self-evident. The political taboos turning into cliches, like bubbles bursting on contact with observable reality.
Our team has an impact far beyond our size, outside the Westminster ecosystem, and past the UK’s borders. And the long hours and late nights are all worth it. We believe in this mission and we are ambitious for the future of our country and continent.
It may have been a decade in the making. The task might be about to get even harder.
But we won’t stop fighting until Britain is back where it belongs, at the heart of Europe.
We know you’re with us. Let’s make it happen, together.
Naomi
*Admittedly, “when my information changes, I alter my conclusions”, is less catchy, but nonetheless correct.
Hope! Again!!