Tony Blair Urges Burnham: Set a 10-Year Path to Rejoining the EU

Sir Tony Blair has urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to commit Britain to rejoining the European Union within a decade, in one of the most provocative interventions on Brexit since Britain left the bloc. The call comes in a foreword to a new report from his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and has reignited a debate many in Westminster thought was long settled.

Former UK prime minister Sir Tony Blair, whose think tank has urged the government to set a ten-year path toward rejoining the EU.

The Report's Bold Call

The report, titled Beyond Leave and Remain: A Path to Rejoining a Reformed Europe, was published last week and says the government should set "a clear, public objective to rejoin the EU within a decade, subject to internal EU reform." That objective, it adds, should be "a cornerstone" of the government's forthcoming ten-year plan, which is expected in November.

The wording is deliberate. This is presented as an ambition tied to reform of the bloc — not a deadline for accession. But the direction of travel could not be clearer: after years of cautious, step-by-step engagement with Brussels, the institute argues Britain should now say openly that it wants back in.

The intervention landed just days before Labour gathers in Liverpool for its annual party conference, putting the question of Britain's relationship with Europe right at the centre of the political conversation. According to reports, the timing was no accident — the institute wants the goal of rejoining to be embedded in the government's long-term plans before they are finalised.

"Everything Is on the Table"

Writing in the foreword, Sir Tony is blunt about the pace of change he wants to see. "There is no point in inching towards Europe as we feel what British public opinion might accommodate," he writes. "We should be clear that we want back into a formal relationship with the EU. But it must be a Europe on a credible path to reform, a Europe of nation states, a Europe capable of being a genuine global power."

He argues that the government should "initiate a process of negotiation with the EU where everything is on the table" — and should not be constrained by what the public might tolerate. That is a direct challenge to the cautious approach that has defined Westminster's post-Brexit strategy for years.

The report also takes aim at the red lines drawn up under the previous Labour leadership, which ruled out rejoining the customs union or the single market and excluded freedom of movement. "The red lines which we drew in 2016 are not the same as 2026," Blair writes, arguing that the question is not whether Britain "reverses" Brexit, but whether it can secure a modern relationship that serves the national interest. According to The Times, the institute even suggests there would be no need to put the issue to a second referendum.

What Rejoining Would Actually Look Like

The report does not stop at the political argument. It sketches out a staged, practical return built on defence, energy and technology — areas where Britain and the EU already work closely.

One proposal is for Britain to rejoin the EU's €150 billion SAFE defence fund, the bloc's major military spending programme. Another is the creation of a new European Energy Security Partnership that would make the North Sea a shared energy hub and reconnect Britain to EU electricity markets — a move the institute says could save British billpayers up to £370 million a year.

The report also calls for joint work on making sure AI systems are safe, and on frontier technologies such as quantum computing. And it argues Britain should help turn the European Political Community — the loose forum of European states — from a talking shop into what it calls "a working one for power", pulling together willing countries to get things built and done.

Underpinning all of this is a diagnosis borrowed from former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi's widely read report on EU competitiveness: that "Europe's biggest problem isn't a lack of institutions but a lack of delivery." The institute's argument is that a reformed, more powerful Europe could match the United States and China — and that Britain should play a leading role in building it.

The report points to a sign of what it calls "newfound flexibility" on the EU's side: the bloc's decision to invite Canada to become an associate member, suggesting Brussels is becoming more open to new kinds of relationships with non-member states.

Branson Backs the Call

The report has found a powerful ally in Sir Richard Branson. The Virgin Group founder issued a strongly worded statement backing the call for Britain to rejoin, describing Brexit as an "unmitigated disaster" and "an unprecedented act of economic and political self-harm."

In a post on LinkedIn, Branson wrote that "the UK cannot dig itself out of" the economic hole Brexit created — "certainly not on its own." He claimed Brexit has cost the UK up to 8% of its GDP, with significant losses in trade, productivity and employment, and compared the decision to swap an F1 car for a hatchback.

Branson also claimed that a majority of UK voters now feel regret over the Brexit vote, and said they must be given "a second chance to determine what is in their best interest." It is a striking intervention from one of Britain's best-known business figures, and it has ensured the rejoin debate stays in the headlines well beyond the report's launch.

The Houses of Parliament in London. The Tony Blair Institute says making EU re-entry a public objective should be a cornerstone of the government's forthcoming ten-year plan.

What This Means

Whatever one thinks of the merits, the significance of this moment is political. For years, the prospect of rejoining the EU was treated in Westminster as untouchable — too toxic, too divisive, too risky. Sir Tony's intervention, backed by one of the country's most famous entrepreneurs, is an attempt to break that taboo and force a serious conversation about Britain's long-term future.

The logic behind the report is economic as much as political. A decade after the 2016 referendum, Britain's relationship with its largest trading partner remains the defining question of its economic policy. The institute argues that incremental, piecemeal deals will never deliver the prosperity on offer from a deeper relationship — and that pretending otherwise is costing the country.

But the hurdles are enormous. Rejoining the EU would require not just a willing British government but a willing EU — 27 member states that would have to agree to let Britain back in. Public opinion would have to be carried along, and the politics of such a move remain, to put it mildly, complicated. Critics will argue that the report underestimates just how difficult reopening the Brexit question would be.

European Union flags fly outside the European Parliament in Brussels. The report urges Britain to play a leading role in shaping a more competitive, reformed Europe.

What Happens Next

For now, the ball is in Prime Minister Burnham's court. His ten-year plan, expected in November, will be the first real test of whether the report's call to make rejoining a "cornerstone" objective gains any traction inside government. Labour's conference in Liverpool this week will show how the party's members — and its leadership — react.

Sir Tony himself has offered a caveat: if the EU will not reform, he writes, Britain should show it "is prepared to remain independent." In other words, this is a conditional offer, not a blank cheque.

Whether or not Britain ever rejoins the EU, the taboo has been broken. A former prime minister and one of the country's best-known businessmen have both now said, out loud, that Britain should plan to go back. The Brexit debate, it seems, is far from over.