Like a creature rising from the depths, the question of Europe has once again returned to haunt British politics. Keir Starmer’s ultra-cautious, incremental approach—painstakingly negotiating minor adjustments rather than pursuing structural change—has left British citizens and businesses largely estranged from the European single market. The lone exception remains the City’s financial sector, where trade flows digitally, untouched by the physical checks that now encumber goods and agricultural products.

The electoral landscape has only sharpened the dilemma. In contests for 4,500 municipal council seats and full parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales, the Green Party—barely a political force a year ago—outpolled Labour. Their central domestic message is unambiguous: Britain should rejoin the European Union. By contrast, the Conservatives, under Kemi Badenoch, whose hardline anti-EU stance mirrors that of Nigel Farage, fared poorly, losing council control and suffering near-erasure in Wales.

Starmer, to his credit, has drawn praise for his handling of foreign policy. He has resisted the more erratic impulses of Donald Trump, particularly rhetoric suggesting territorial ambitions toward Canada and Greenland—language that evokes the coercive annexations of mid-20th century Europe. Working alongside European leaders such as Emmanuel Macron, Starmer has helped assemble “coalitions of the willing” to support Ukraine and manage tensions with Iran, without defaulting to the kind of aerial escalation associated with the Netanyahu-Trump axis.

Indeed, Starmer increasingly resembles a capable foreign secretary rather than a confident prime minister. British political history offers several examples of leaders who struggled domestically but later proved effective in foreign affairs. The problem is that Britain’s most pressing challenges today are domestic—and many are tied directly to its estrangement from Europe.

On that front, Starmer’s hesitancy has disappointed even sympathetic observers. Reconnecting with Europe remains essential to restoring growth, investment, and exports. The promises made in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum—that Britain could retain seamless economic and personal ties with the continent—have long since collapsed. Boris Johnson once insisted that leaving the EU would not affect trade or mobility, claiming Britons would still “go and work in the EU, to live, to travel, to study, to buy homes and settle down.” Those assurances now read less like optimism and more like fiction.

Johnson’s reputation for dishonesty is well established. Starmer’s problem is different. He projects a desire to make the European question disappear altogether. It will not.

Within Labour, pressure is building. At last year’s party conference, Andy Burnham openly expressed a desire for Britain to rejoin the EU “in his lifetime.” More recently, Wes Streeting, one of the government’s rising figures and a health secretary credited with reducing waiting times, echoed that sentiment. After Labour lost roughly 1,500 council seats—many to Farage’s Reform Party—Streeting called for a renewed “special relationship” with Europe, suggesting that eventual re-entry remained possible, if not imminent.

The reaction was swift and predictable. The Daily Telegraph, long a staunch opponent of European integration, seized on Streeting’s remarks and recast them as a call for immediate re-entry on Brussels’ terms. Nuance was stripped away in favor of a more incendiary narrative. Broadcasters, including the BBC, followed suit, amplifying the distortion.

By Monday, Labour was engulfed in an internal storm. Senior figures such as David Lammy and Lisa Nandy joined a chorus of criticism, while backbenchers lined up to denounce Streeting with a ferocity usually reserved for Farage or Zack Polanski. Burnham, notably, remained silent, avoiding renewed scrutiny of his earlier comments.

The episode illustrates a familiar dynamic. A Euroskeptic press, still animated by longstanding hostility to Europe, manufactures a controversy that destabilizes Labour from within while simultaneously bolstering the political position of Badenoch and Farage. The result is less a genuine debate than a carefully orchestrated distraction.

Starmer, for his part, had an opportunity to rise above the fray. He could have acknowledged the growing sentiment within his party—and the country—that Brexit has imposed real costs, and that some form of closer alignment with Europe is inevitable. Instead, he allowed the narrative to spiral, reinforcing the impression of a leader more reactive than strategic.

There is, however, an alternative path. Starmer’s strengths in foreign policy could be leveraged into a broader vision—one that situates Britain within a cooperative democratic bloc capable of addressing global challenges, from geopolitical instability to economic fragmentation. That would require confronting, rather than sidestepping, the European question.

As it stands, Labour appears caught between its electoral caution and its strategic necessity. Europe is no longer a dormant issue. It is once again the fault line running through British politics—and it will not recede quietly.