Last night our Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, passionately urged a more “pragmatic debate” on Europe including rejoining the single market, because he said, politicians “can’t keep quiet about the immense damage Brexit is doing”. Although his position can be interpreted as a swipe at the Labour Party’s national policy of no return, Khan’s free-wheeling won’t annoy Keir Starmer unduly. He knows Khan faces an election in May next year and London overwhelmingly voted Remain, so he will have a sympathetic audience.
In a week we learned that our Mayor is set to announce a near 10 per cent rise in our council taxes, shunting the reasons for our woes clear of his doorstep, is clever politics. But he’s certainly right that for the economy, and especially for London, Brexit and the thin, desperate deal Boris Johnson signed two years ago was a disastrous move that has set us on an even steeper path of decline than many of our European neighbours.
