The view that Labour MPs are ‘desperate’ to rejoin the EU is a huge problem for Keir Starmer

Rosie Duffield was foolish to say it out loud, but everyone knows it’s true – and it has publicly identified the Labour leader’s biggest election weakness in advance, writes John Rentoul

Rosie Duffield, who won Canterbury four years ago, has said what she believes other Labour MPs are thinking (YouTube)

Rosie Duffield, the MP for Canterbury, Labour’s most surprising gain in the 2017 election, has said out loud what everyone knows to be true: that most of her colleagues want to rejoin the EU. 

In an interview with HuffPost, she said “the majority of us” Labour MPs “are still desperate to rejoin if we possibly can, I think, at heart”. She recognised that this “does depend on negotiating with Labour Party policy” and said: “We’re not talking in the next five years, realistically.” 

Her contribution will not be welcomed by Keir Starmer, who asked his MPs to vote for Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal last week – Duffield was one of the backbenchers who defied the instruction and abstained. “Most people on the front bench who voted for this deal last week did it with a very heavy heart and they haven’t given up either,” she said.