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.
 

We can all agree that the result in Makerfield earlier this week was striking.

Andy Burnham won 54.8% of the vote, beating Reform UK's Robert Kenyon by more than 9,000 votes in a seat that, on paper, looked vulnerable. Just weeks earlier, Reform had won all eight council wards in the Makerfield constituency in the Wigan local elections, with around 50% of the vote. But when it came to a parliamentary contest, Reform's advance stalled.

More than anything else, it demonstrates that Reform’s brand of divisive politics (which too many Conservatives are too willing to copy) can be beaten. Here’s why:

Reform's ceiling is lower than it looks. The most important finding from Makerfield is this: pollster Luke Tryl of More in Common said it was a very difficult result for Nigel Farage's party, pointing out there was "barely any" increase in Reform's vote share compared with 2024. Reform had polled around 32% in Makerfield at the general election. Despite dominating the local elections there just weeks before, they barely moved at parliamentary level. This matters enormously. Reform's local election surge does not automatically translate into a general election surge. Their vote is real, but it has a ceiling.

Burnham's win was also, in large part, a personal one. Polling during the campaign showed that on a generic Westminster ballot with no candidate names attached, Reform UK led Labour by 11 points in Makerfield. Yet in the named-candidate by-election ballot, Labour led by five points, a 16-point swing driven almost entirely by the candidate himself. This is the Burnham effect, and it is directly transferable as a lesson: voters respond to candidates they know and trust.

A divided right-wing vote also helps enormously. Restore Britain, standing for the first time in a parliamentary contest, took 6.8% of the vote in Makerfield. That is votes that would otherwise mostly have gone to Reform. In our own constituency, the fragmentation of the vote to Reform's right is a structural advantage we should not ignore. When we face Reform in 2029, a top pollster warned that if last night's results were “replicated elsewhere in fragmented politics, Reform's path to government becomes very, very hard.”

Candidate quality matters and voters notice. Reform's candidate Robert Kenyon attracted controversy during the campaign over past social media posts and online comments, some of which were perceived as misogynistic, and focus group evidence from More in Common suggests the issue had some cut-through with voters. That’s no surprise. Reform consistently presents itself as an insurgent movement speaking plain truths, but when its candidates are examined closely, the reality often falls short of the image. Holding Reform candidates to account on their actual record, compassionately but firmly, is entirely legitimate and effective.

The Liberal Democrats' own policy review, Leading the Way, is clear that our task is to offer a compelling, positive alternative. We are the only party with the courage and conviction to offer a compelling, positive alternative to the politics peddled by Farage and Reform on a national level, one grounded in having strong community campaigning and a bold, clear alternative vision.

This will not be easy, but Makerfield has shown us that Reform has a ceiling, that a trusted local candidate can punch through it, and that a divided vote on the right creates real opportunities for us. We should feel energised. There is everything to play for.

We need to fix our trading relationship with Europe to grow our economy.

The Conservatives' disastrous trade deal is wrapping British businesses up in red tape - holding them back from selling into Europe and costing our economy billions in lost exports.

Labour have shown they aren’t moving quickly enough on trade - recently voting against a key Lib Dem amendment in Parliament to “open negotiations with the EU on creating a UK-EU Customs Union”.

Liberal Democrats want to turbocharge our economy by forming a Customs Union with the EU, tearing down the trade barriers and red tape holding us back.

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Runnymede and Weybridge, Chelsea Whyte, said “The cost of living continues to soar and become unmanageable for people up and down the country. It’s increasingly clear that the government needs to consider new avenues to bring costs down and relieve pressure on peoples’ pockets.

“I used to work at the heart of the EU in Brussels, and have seen first hand the impact that the EU customs union can have. Whatever way you voted in the 2016 referendum, a decade ago, I think we can all agree that the current state of the world means we need to look closer to home for trade. It’s ludicrous that our closest trading partner is so far removed at a time when people are struggling to buy their essentials.”

If you agree we need to fix Britain’s trade and get a new custom’s union, sign our petition below.