Former Conservative MP and Attorney General of England & Wales Dominic Grieve encouraged the European Movement to build on the ties it has built across various political parties, in order to have an impact in this parliament.

Speaking at a European Movement Members’ Briefing on Wednesday, Dominic Grieve stressed the importance of creating “a space for people to come together and talk about cooperation with our European neighbours” across party lines. He also drew inspiration from the campaign to join the European Economic Community (EEC), which included leaders from a wide variety of political tendencies:

 “How did they deal with this issue? Of course, they shared a view [on Europe], but actually they were divided on a large number of other things. And I think this is the important point. At the moment the polarisations of politics are very great. We’ve got to get over that, and this is one of the real challenges the movement is going to have.”

Overall, he was optimistic for greater cooperation with Europe, hinting that economic realities would lead the UK to become more closely aligned with the EU in this parliament. “The next few years will have already significantly pushed us back towards closer harmonisation with our EU partners.” Fifty years on from the 1975 EEC referendum there are real opportunities to begin rebuilding our close relationship with Europe brick-by-brick.

Dominic Grieve was speaking at the European Movement UK’s inaugural Members’ Briefing event. Featuring talks and Q&As with significant figures in UK and EU politics, the briefings provide European Movement members with a special insight into where we are as a movement and where we go from here.

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