Report claims cabinet split over EU rejoin and second referendum

A report has claimed that the UK cabinet is split over whether to rejoin the EU and hold a second Brexit referendum. According to the report, 15 of 28 cabinet ministers support rejoining the EU, while the other 13 are opposed or undecided.

The report also said Andy Burnham needs to win over his own top team as well as Brussels in his mission to reset the UK's relationship with the EU. The claim was discussed on a late-night news programme, where contributors argued over whether a second referendum would follow and whether it should be put to voters in a manifesto.

One contributor said the idea was a "huge distraction technique" and argued that a referendum could dominate political debate while issues such as tax rises, benefits and illegal immigration were left aside. The same contributor said a second referendum would be expensive, time-consuming and divisive.

There was also an exchange over democratic legitimacy. One contributor said putting rejoin in a manifesto would not carry legitimacy, while another pointed out that the UK has had prime ministers who took office without a general election, including Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson. They said that if a prime minister wanted to depart radically from the manifesto, there should be a general election.

The panel also argued that a rejoin campaign would be a harder sell now than in 2016. They said Europe looks like "carnage" in places such as France and Spain, and that the EU has not pulled away economically from the UK. They added that access to 450 million consumers remains a benefit, but the EU is also unsettled about the economy and competition from China.