Nick Clegg has said the UK must rejoin the European Union, claiming the bloc is on the brink of collapse.
The former deputy prime minister and ex-Liberal Democrat leader said economic growth “literally went into reverse the moment Brexit happened”, adding: “Clearly the United Kingdom needs to go back.”
“You can’t defy geography”, he added.
Mr Clegg, who is now the president of global affairs at social media giant Meta, said the election of Donald Trump makes the situation even more urgent, saying the US president-elect “does not have hold any instinctive affection” for the special relationship.
However, he warned that the EU must reform itself or it will fall apart, saying it is facing a “pivotal moment”.
“I mean, for it’s worth, my own view, a somewhat maybe unfashionable view, is that the fundamental physics - as my engineer friends in Silicon Valley say about any situation - is that the United Kingdom will have to sort of architect a sort of rapprochement, or re-entry into the European Union in one shape or form”, he told the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast.
But the ex-Lib Dem leader said the “biggest single factor which will determine that is actually more about what happens in the European Union than what happens in the United Kingdom”.
“The European Union is at a real pivotal moment. It’s going to either reform or die.
“If it reforms, as I hope it will, it’ll just become so flaming the obvious over the next several years that the United Kingdom belongs there.
“Not least now, at a time when we have a new administration in DC, who, as Donald Trump has said multiple times, does not have hold any instinctive affection for the Transatlantic Alliance.”
It comes after a poll indicated that voters believe the UK should prioritise its relationship with Europe over the US, as concern grows about Mr Trump’s re-election.
Some 44 per cent of people think Britain’s economic future lies with its closest neighbours in the EU, compared with 19 per cent who think the government should prioritise links with the US, a YouGov poll commissioned by Best for Britain – a pro-EU campaign group – showed.
The poll of more than 4,300 people was carried out between 25 and 27 November, and comes as president-elect Trump looks set to hike trade tariffs on goods entering the US.
He has already raised the spectre of tariffs with his nearest neighbours in Canada and Mexico in a bid to curb migration, as well as new fees on Chinese goods.
The polling also shows that more Britons trust the EU, at 49 per cent, than the US, at 30 per cent.
More people were distrustful of the US than those who said they trusted the country, with 40 per cent of respondents.
Though the polling suggests the public favour closer ties with Europe over the US, Sir Keir Starmer has rejected suggestions the UK needs to make such a choice, recently describing it as “plain wrong”.
The prime minister has attempted to build bridges with the Trump administration, meeting the president-elect in New York in September and offering him “hearty congratulations” during a phone call after his re-election.
He has also sought to reset the UK’s relations with European nations since coming to power, meeting leaders from across the continent during his five months as prime minister.
A test of whether his strategy bears fruit will take place when a review of the trade and co-operation agreement, the basis for the UK-EU relationship after Brexit, takes place in 2026.
The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
