Neil Kinnock has delivered a rallying cry to pro-EU Labour MPs, telling them that “fortune favours the brave” when it comes to forging closer ties with Europe.
The “tide is shifting”, the former party leader told a reception of the Labour Movement for Europe (LME), where there was applause when Germany’s ambassador told of his delight that the grouping’s more than 100 MPs now vastly outnumbered the Conservatives’ European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs.
Lord Kinnock’s language stood in contrast with the careful positioning of Keir Starmer, who last week promised European leaders he would reset Britain’s ties with their countries but also insisted this month that the UK would not rejoin the EU, the single market or the customs union within his lifetime.
Kinnock, who is the honorary president of the LME, likened the project of moving Britain closer again to Europe to the 40-year project of those behind Brexit.
At an event regarded by some as a show of strength by Labour’s significantly enlarged pro-EU wing, the peer said the referendum was “not the first time in history that people had swallowed a load of rubbish”, adding that the party should now be telling them that they understood the reasons why they had voted to leave the EU.
But he said that the first objective of pro-EU Labour MPs should be to “support all efforts by the new Labour government in building a new relationship with the EU as quickly, as broadly, and – I am not afraid to use the word – as adventurously as we can”.
“Fortune favours the brave – especially in the wake of a triumphant victory in the election,” he told a reception that was attended by MPs including the LME’s chair, the Walthamstow MP, Stella Creasy.
“The disciplined caution of opposition was wise, essential, strategic. We must not let it lapse into any form of relaxed diffidence,” Kinnock added.
The event was also addressed by Nick Thomas-Symonds, Starmer’s EU ministerial envoy, who said the government would “reset” Britain’s relationship with Europe.
However, the loudest cheer of the evening was for the German ambassador, Miguel Berger, who told the gathering: “The fact that we will now work with a government that does not challenge the European convention on human rights on a daily basis is an enormous step.”
Berger said Germany wanted to see a meeting as soon as possible between Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president. He welcomed that there would now be more than 100 parliamentarians “advocating for Europe”. To cheers, he added that he was “happy that the ERG has now been replaced by the LME”.
