Why the Government Still won't talk about Brexit, Even as Backing Slumps to 29%
With the UK's Economy taking a 5% tanking, costing the tax payer £140bn in revenue, isn't it time we have a sensible conversation about our relationship with the EU without it being a "Brexit Betrayal"?
Trade barriers with our closest neighbours, young Britons stripped of their freedom of movement, soaring prices, and broken promises about NHS funding are just a few reasons why Britain must finally confront the biggest self-inflicted wound in its modern history: Brexit.
Recent polling shows a mere 29% of voters still believe Brexit wasn’t a total hoax, while only 11 per cent believe Brexit has been a success. Indeed, The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates the UK economy is now growing 4–5% slower than it would have inside the EU, and economists calculate Brexit has already cost the country £140 billion in lost revenue since 2019.
And yet, Brexit remains a political taboo in Westminster, especially among Labour’s front bench, despite the mounting evidence of its failures. It’s been a year since Keir Starmer’s party clinched power in the 2024 election, an event in which parties of all colours quietly bundled the elephant in the room under the carpet. Labour’s 131-page manifesto mentioned Brexit just once, while Rishi Sunak’s 76-page Conservative equivalent squeezed in 12 references, almost all designed to appease Brexiteers with washy rhetoric like “Brexit freedoms.”
For the Tories, it is clear maintaining Brexit support is not electorally feasible, even if the odd Brexiteer pops up now and then to wear their incompetence as a badge of honour. For Labour, a party that backed 'Remain', the politics has become much trickier...
So What Is Going On?
The absence of Brexit in the Labour government's messaging is obviously for a purpose, and is primarily driven by two dual factors...
First, the UK’s most influential newspapers were spectacularly wrong about Brexit. To admit its failures now would not only discredit their editorial record, but also undermine their ability to shape public opinion on everything from the economy to immigration. Instead, they have doubled down on the fiction that Brexit “restored sovereignty” and have weaponised any move towards closer EU cooperation as a threat to that sovereignty.
For instance, when Downing Street announced a landmark Post-Brexit trade deal with the EU on May 19th, 2025, they attempted to frame this as a 'reset' to mend frayed commercial ties. Multitudes of independent analysts and countless businesses alike welcomed this arrangement, as the deal is set to bring £9bn into the UK economy, and even requested further engagement with Europe.
Yet the next morning, legacy pro-Leave outlets vacated reality and went on the offensive. Legacy Pro-Leave outlets like The Sun, Daily Express, and Daily Mail splashed warnings of a “Brexit Betrayal,” framing diplomatic pragmatism as a surrender of sovereignty. The Express ran headlines like “Starmer's Brexit Betrayal Risks Undoing Brexit Wins”, while the Mail accused him of “selling Britain short.”
The Sun focused more on fisheries, arguing Starmer had been "Done up like a Kipper" by France, ignoring the £388m in EU investment for coastal UK industries, in return for an extension of French trawler licenses to 2038. Despite plaudits from credible sources, public debates are often dictated by the atmosphere in the press, where rhetoric is a vehicle for political means, which is not good optics for Starmer's government.
The second reason Labour are walking a tightrope of attempting to strengthen ties with Europe while trying to appease Brexiteers by staying silent on Brexit is because although it is widely perceived as a failed project, this kind of media outrage over tame Pro-European policy could still have vital electoral consequences. The Red Wall (Traditional Labour Seats in the North and the Midlands) overwhelmingly voted for Brexit in 2016 and for Boris Johnson's Conservative outfit in the 2019 general election campaign.
Coincidentally, newspapers still punch above their weight in the North and Midlands which shaped their view on Brexit. Academic research in the Journal of Common Market Studies found a strong correlation between tabloid readership and Leave voting, with The Sun’s readers disproportionately backing Brexit. This is important because The Sun performs particularly well in northern England, with a large share of its 2020 daily sales concentrated there.
The Midlands tells a similar story. The Express & Star, which sells around 138,000 copies a day, backed Brexit enthusiastically. Its heartland includes towns like Walsall (68% Leave) and Dudley (67.6% Leave), where the Brexit vote was overwhelming. The national Daily Express, also pro-Leave, shares much of this audience. The LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance has documented how these areas tend to be post-industrial, economically deprived, and politically marginalised communities that have felt the sharp edge of neoliberalism and austerity.
The Governments Predicament
Against this backdrop, a steady diet of front-page warnings about “Brexit Betrayal” risks stoking anger toward an already unpopular Labour government. A government that came in on a loveless landslide, recording around a third of the popular vote and which is often parroted around the nation by the press. A government that, ironically, depends on the support of at least some of the 29% of steadfast Brexiteers likely concentrated in the Red Wall if they're to prevent a repeat of 2019; only this time, with Nigel Farage's reform as a competitor.
Jacob Barclay-Evans
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