No 10 Pulls Back From the Prime Minister’s Referendum Answer
Asked by broadcasters whether he could introduce freedom of movement without a referendum, the prime minister answered “no”. Downing Street spent the afternoon qualifying it, saying he “isn’t proposing a return to freedom of movement or any option” and is “crucially not leaning either way”. Sources say no decision on a referendum has been taken.
This morning we recorded that no Downing Street clarification existed; one now does, and it is worth reading closely because it narrows the question without closing it. A Downing Street spokesperson said the government would not “get ahead” of how to consult the public on major changes to the relationship with the European Union, that “the prime minister thinks the Brexit deal is not good enough”, and that any decision “will be for the British public to decide… What he wants to do first is have a conversation with the public. The process will follow.” The distinction being lost is this: he already accepts a referendum would be needed to rejoin the European Union in full, and the open question is whether the single market alone would need one. On that, officials say no decision exists. The constraints are real: he says he is committed to the 2024 manifesto, which ruled out free movement, single market membership and a customs union, and any change would need a mandate at a general election, due by 2029. What is new today is not a policy but the discovery that the mechanism itself is undecided.