Britain should seek to rejoin EU, says civil servant who led Brexit department

Anti-Brexit protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in April. Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

Britain should start talking about rejoining the EU, according to a former senior civil servant who ran the Brexit department.

Philip Rycroft, who was permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, said the “argument was there to be won” about going back into Europe, adding that a “clear-headed appraisal of what is in the country’s best interests” was needed. However, he said rejoining the bloc could be a “long and windy” road.