Senior MEP warns Britain must axe the pound to rejoin EU as MPs prepare to debate re-entry on Monday

From the Newshound archive · first published 11 October 2026.

A French MEP has warned that Brussels would demand the UK ditch the pound, accept free movement and join the euro as the price of rejoining the EU — a direct challenge to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has said his dream is to see Britain back in the bloc. The warning from Sandro Gozi, who called Brexit a 'democratic disaster', comes as MPs are set to debate EU membership in Westminster Hall on Monday at 4.30pm after over 112,000 people signed a petition. A new poll finds nearly three-quarters of Labour voters want Burnham to include a commitment to seek EU membership in the next manifesto. A think tank roadmap backed by Lord Heseltine, Neil Kinnock and Sir Vince Cable proposes full re-entry by 2036.

Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith warned Burnham is on 'an undemocratic fool's errand' and the British people would 'never forgive' anyone who sacrificed the pound.

Gozi claimed reversing Brexit would be the 'biggest victory for us over Nigel Farage' — while Reform UK voters were the only major-party group opposing EU re-entry in the poll.

Britons would vote by nearly two to one, 57 to 30 per cent, to rejoin the EU if another referendum were held, the survey found.