Labour's plot to rejoin the EU is an unhelpful distraction from the changes Britain truly needs

There are opportunities because there is widespread support for Rejoin across the left. It could be the sort of pivotal issue Labour needs to win back voters from the Liberal Democrats and Greens at the next election. If a vote for Labour means a vote to Rejoin, then many will be tempted to focus on that over daily issues.

For Labour, that is important because they find themselves in a tricky position. Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves lost their authority over their parliamentary party when they attempted to cut the rate of increase in benefits spending, only to be defeated by a rebellion. Yet with gilts having risen above six per cent, the highest rate for almost 30 years, Burnham finds himself with little fiscal headroom to spend either.

Blocked from cutting, with limited room to spend, Labour can only really juggle around what they already have. Nor does Andy Burnham want to risk his authority so early in his time as Prime Minister. An issue like Rejoin involves no immediate spending commitments and can let him invoke the possibility of EU funds.

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, has branded Brexit the "biggest lie of the last 30 years" and said he would gladly welcome the return of the UK to the clutches of the bloc while students in his own county burn down schools. The German ambassador also appears to be similarly in favour, saying Germans consider Britain “an integral part of Europe” and, although the choice about rejoining was up to the British people, “in Germany you will always find a partner for setting the ambition as high as we can”.

Germany too has its issues, to which Britain seeking to rejoin the EU would be a welcome distraction. Chancellor Friedrich Merz was elected as the anti-Angela Merkel, a chance for the centre-right CDU to finally govern with some teeth. Instead, his chancellorship has bounced from farce to failure.

Uniquely, he was not elected as Chancellor on the first vote, having to negotiate with the left-wing parties to achieve his goal. The firewall which prevents cooperation with the more right-wing AfD has left him governing in coalition with the left. They have gleefully blocked him from any kind of welfare reform. Instead of curbing the damage done to the German economy by Net Zero, Merz was forced to enshrine it in the German constitution.

Since then the CDU has plummeted in the polls, failing to even reach the 5 per cent threshold in the recent Saxony-Anhalt state election needed to get representation in the state parliament. That has never happened before.

Instead of giving his party some red meat, Merz has threatened those who criticise him with using German law to censor them. Tax cuts have been outnumbered by tax rises. He has even suggested an end to private health insurance, which would be devastating for the stolid middle-class voters the CDU relies on.

All the while, the German export-dominated economic model continues to suffer at the hands of China. Ripping up the rules on debt allowed Merz to borrow more, with much of that spent on military rearmament, in the hope that a fading car industry could benefit as Europe looks eastwards at Ukraine and prepares for a war it does not want to fight.

Successfully ushering Britain back into the EUwould be the sort of grand move which Merz could point to as an achievement. Yet it still seems unlikely. For Britain to rejoin would involve returning to freedom of movement, tearing up the post-Brexit trade deals that are incompatible with the single market, and large payments to the EU. All of that will be a hard sell to the British public.