Labour MP Lisa Nandy said the ambition to rejoin the European Union is "odd" during an interview with Sky News this week.
The disagreement highlights a growing internal divide within the Labour Party regarding the United Kingdom's long-term relationship with Europe and the legacy of Brexit.
The comments follow remarks made by Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, who said the UK's future lies with Europe and that the country should eventually rejoin the EU. Streeting said those comments during a Sky News interview on Saturday.
Nandy pushed back against the notion that returning to the bloc is the primary solution for the country's current challenges. She said the answer to Britain's problems has to be bigger than going back into the EU.
Nandy suggested that advocating for a return to the union ignores the complexities of the last decade. "If re-joining the EU is the answer, then essentially what we're saying to people is 'life was fine in 2015. We just need to go back there'," Nandy said.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative culture secretary, was also questioned by Sky News regarding the issue following Streeting's public stance. The interviews took place at the Sky News studios as the network sought reactions from both sides of the political aisle.
While Streeting framed the move as a necessity for the nation's future, Nandy's response emphasizes a desire for a forward-looking strategy that does not rely solely on reversing the 2016 referendum result.
“"The answer to Britain's problems has to be bigger than going back into the EU."”
The friction between Nandy and Streeting reflects the ongoing struggle within the UK's center-left to reconcile the desire for closer European ties with the political reality of the Brexit vote. By framing a return to the EU as an attempt to return to 2015, Nandy is signaling that a simple reversal of Brexit may be politically unfeasible and insufficient to address contemporary domestic crises.
