Tories must be prepared to discuss rejoining EU, ex Cabinet minister tells conference

The Conservatives must be prepared to discuss rejoining the EU if they are ever to win back younger voters, a former Cabinet minister has told the party’s conference.

Former justice secretary David Gauke told a fringe meeting in Manchester last night the Tories were “on the wrong side of the argument” on the UK’s relationship with Europe.

And he urged the party to “have a space” to discuss the relationship, including the possibility of Britain rejoining the bloc.

Gauke told the event, hosted by the liberal conservative think tank Bright Blue: “We as a party must have a space to discuss our future relationship with the EU including a possible rejoining of the EU. We need to be able to debate that as a party.

“For liberal centre right values to prevail, the Conservative Party will need to look at the electorate, looks that it’s lost touch with large parts of the electorate. Ifyou look at how badly the party is doing with younger voters, on the YouGov polling last week, the Conservative Party is going to have to go through a massive modernisation programme.

“I think the Conservative Party is on the wrong side of the argument on our relationship with Europe. That is a big thing for the Conservatives ever to change, given how dependent the party has become on Brexit-supporting voters.”

One attendee said the comments were warmly received in the room.

Gauke, a former work and pensions secretary expelled as a Tory MP by Boris Johnson for refusing to back a no-deal Brexit, was speaking alongside West Midlands mayor Andy Street at the event co-hosted by the European Movement and the think tank UK in a Changing Europe.

Mike Galsworthy, chair of the European Movement, described the event as “a pivotal point in the recent history of the Conservative Party”.

He told the New European: “For the first time, we are seeing, at Conservative Party Conference itself, open advocates of rejoining the European Union receiving robust support from the room. An overdue conversation has been opened.

“Many Conservatives realise that their party may well have gotten itself stuck in a cul-de-sac. They are actively looking for new directions of travel and David Gauke’s call to consider the merits of rejoining the EU have not fallen on deaf ears.

“For the next generation of Conservatives, it may well be a way out of the current mess that recaptures Conservative traditions of pragmatics, economic security, and pro-business footing.”