UK must rejoin EU, warns Clegg, claiming bloc is on brink of collapse

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The former deputy prime minister and ex-Liberal Democrat leader said economic growth “literally went into reverse the moment Brexit happened”, adding: “Clearly the United Kingdom needs to go back.” “You can’t defy geography”, he added. open image in gallery Sir Keir Starmer rejected suggestions the UK needs to make a choice between US or EU ties “I mean, for it’s worth, my own view, a somewhat maybe unfashionable view, is that the fundamental physics - as my engineer friends in Silicon Valley say about any situation - is that the United Kingdom will have to sort of architect a sort of rapprochement, or re-entry into the European Union in one shape or form”, he told the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast. “Not least now, at a time when we have a new administration in DC, who, as Donald Trump has said multiple times, does not have hold any instinctive affection for the Transatlantic Alliance.” open image in gallery Nick Clegg has warned the European Union is at a ‘real pivotal moment’ It comes after a poll indicated that voters believe the UK should prioritise its relationship with Europe over the US, as concern grows about Mr Trump’s re-election. Though the polling suggests the public favour closer ties with Europe over the US, Sir Keir Starmer has rejected suggestions the UK needs to make such a choice, recently describing it as “plain wrong”.