Brexit Made Irreversible: The Week the Rejoiner Dream Finally Died
A flurry of UK trade deals has made the cost of reversing Brexit too high to contemplate
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by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
May 12, 2025
The EU has missed its chance to draw Britain back into its close commercial and regulatory orbit. Brussels pitched its demands too high.
Each British trade deal with another country or bloc closes the window further on a return to the EU single market and customs union.
The agreements with India and the US follow rapidly on Britain’s accession to the East Asia-Latin America trade pact (CPTPP).
A deal with the Gulf states is coming soon. These are large parts of the world economy. The magnetic pull of the EU can no longer compete with this greater force.
All of the accumulating deals would have to be repudiated if Britain were ever again subsumed into the EU’s trading machinery as a satellite — i.e., a de facto EU member but without voting rights.
To do so would have exorbitant geopolitical consequences and costs. It is safe to say that the Rejoiner dream entered its final agony this week.
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