Brexit has been a disaster – but there is a path to a new deal with Europe

“It’s just been a disaster.” These are not my words, but the words of a Reform voter in Bolton. As he sat in one of the Good Growth Foundation’s focus groups, he could see the folly of that fateful decision to leave the EU in 2016.

Poll after poll shows this Brexit regret. For many it is bound up with the cost of living crisis. In a world characterised by permanent volatility, Britain will struggle to grow without the stability and security provided by a close relationship with the EU.

Yet British politics remains trapped in a familiar bind. Support for closer ties exists, but it is fragile, conditional and sensitive to political risk. The moment a renewed European debate looks likely to reopen old wounds just for the sake of it, that support evaporates. To keep the public on side, new deals must deliver clear, noticeable impacts on the cost of living, security and trade.

What is on the table now is not big nor bold enough to do so. But last year’s summit, largely unnoticed, shows a route to what’s possible. The government struck an imaginative deal with the EU: bespoke arrangements recovered some of the advantages of single-market participation without European court of justice oversight or freedom of movement – both key concerns for the public.

To ask for more, Britain will need to pay up. Our research suggests that the public is prepared to do so – provided it delivers benefits.

What is the public prepared to pay for? Better access to the single market for goods to lower costs and reduce friction. A partial customs arrangement to protect hard-won trade deals and shield us from disruption. Restoring defence cooperation and reaching an agreement on migration and irregular crossings.

This is where the next phase of the Europe debate will be won or lost. Not in re-litigating “all in” or “all out” arguments, but in constructing a wholly new settlement that isn’t afraid to make concessions when the benefits are clear. Move beyond the binary thinking and we no longer have to accept the disaster Brexit has been for growth and our living standards.

Praful Nargund is the director of the Good Growth Foundation

Photograph by Jason Wells/UCG via Getty Images