10 Years On: My EU Story

10 years ago today, I woke up at 4am in a tent pitched on a muddy field to discover that Britain had voted to leave the EU. I, like thousands of other young people at the time, watched my future thrown into uncertainty in the very place where hope is supposed to prevail and everything is supposed to feel possible: Glastonbury Festival.

For anyone who remembers that festival - it was probably the wettest in living memory, but somehow that felt a fitting coincidence with such a pivotal moment for our country. Everything that was stable was now fluid. Everything not tied down was being blown away. The very ground beneath us was not solid anymore.

Little did I know, that strange summer morning marked the start of my European adventure, not the end. After packing away my muddy boots with a clearer sense of the values I wanted to fight for, I went back to University and finished my degree. I then secured work in the European Parliament in Brussels - a job with a time limit, but one that gave me the chance to learn how to fight for real people in the middle of a complicated bureaucracy.

And yes, Brussels was bureaucratic, but it was also brilliant. It was a place where parties came together to put their differences aside and reach compromise. Where nations came together to mix their cultures and work on common challenges together. It was a vision of the kind of politics, and the kind of values, that Britain so badly needs now.

In a strange way, whilst the Brexit wars raged on, I was becoming more familiar with the EU, not less. I lived like a true European, made friends from all across the continent, visited as many places as I could in my time off, and when it all came crashing down on 31st January 2020, I knew I'd made the most of it.

So, yes, there are clear, obvious tangible things that remind us how the world has changed over the last decade, like the fact our economy is smaller, our businesses are languishing, and the Cost of Living Crisis is getting worse, not better. But what really strikes me now, 10 years later, is the human cost. Brexit can’t just be measured in money, but in relationships that were never built, opportunities never taken, and connections never made.

If this seems very soft and mushy to you - I’d urge you to remember that the point of economic growth is to give people the opportunity they deserve to live their life to the fullest. To give us all the security of a good life and the chances to live our best one. It is the responsibility of governments to make lives easier for people, not put up barriers and increase burdens. That’s what being a liberal is all about - and if you agree, you probably are one too.

That's why on this tenth anniversary - I’m proud to say the Liberal Democrats are clear: Britain must start to rebuild its broken relationship with Europe and put ourselves back on the path to one day being a member of the EU once more. 

That is not going to happen overnight, and the only way to start down that path is to ditch our broken Brexit deal and rejoin the Single Market. This, alongside closer military co-operation, will grow the economy, keep us safe and begin to rebuild the relationship.

But most of all - it will begin to right the wrong of those lost opportunities, connections and relationships. So many of us in those muddy tents at Glastonbury hardly knew what we had until it was gone. I am sure that the next generation will be even more passionate and enthusiastic about seizing those life chances, to the benefit of us all, if only we’d give it to them.