French Right-Wing Threatens to Veto Any UK Bid to Rejoin EU

National Rally vows to block ‘Breturn’ in Brussels if they win the French presidency next year, leaving pro-European ambitions in London dead in the water.

LONDON / PARIS — By Political Correspondent

The prospects of pro-European politicians reversing Brexit have suffered a major blow after senior figures in France’s right-wing National Rally (RN) warned they would veto any British attempt to rejoin the bloc.

The intervention comes as potential future Labour leadership contenders weigh up a return to Brussels after the next General Election. However, under EU treaties, any enlargement or readmission requires the unanimous consent of all 27 member states—meaning a single veto from Paris would instantly kill off the move.

Jordan Bardella, the president of the RN, is currently widely tipped as the favourite to clinch victory in next year’s French presidential election.

Charles-Henri Gallois, Mr Bardella’s senior economic adviser and an RN MEP, insisted that the party would firmly oppose any such move unless the British government held a fresh referendum.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Gallois said:

“To do so without a referendum would obviously be a denial of democracy because the people expressed their will through a referendum to leave.”

“It’s a bit of a special case, but yes, we would oppose it without a referendum, I think, because in any case, we’re against any enlargement of the EU anyway. It seems perfectly normal to me, given that there was a referendum to leave, that we can’t accept a country rejoining without a referendum,” he added.

Debate Reignited in London

The stark warning from Paris arrives as the debate surrounding Britain’s EU membership is aggressively reignited by figures on the Labour left.

Launching his leadership bid, Wes Streeting declared that Britain’s future “lies with Europe, and one day back in the European Union,” branding Brexit “a catastrophic mistake.”

In contrast, Andy Burnham—who echoed similar sentiments at last year’s Labour conference—appeared to execute a cautious U-turn, conceding that while Brexit had been “damaging,” the “last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out a return to the political union one day, insisting he would “not get lost in a debate about what might happen years down the line.”

Responding to the prospect of a back-door Brexit reversal by British politicians, Jean-Philippe Tanguy, RN’s deputy parliamentary leader, simply remarked: “Quelle horreur!” (How horrible!)

A Cross-Channel Alliance

However, Mr Gallois noted that the RN might not even need to use its veto if Reform UK triumphs at the next UK general election.

“Nigel Farage will win the General Election before there’s any talk of a referendum or anything like that. And so, that will put an end to that possibility once and for all,” the French MEP predicted.

Nevertheless, Mr Gallois warned that if pro-EU centrists managed to defeat the RN in France, they would seek to “punish the UK out of a sort of quasi-religious fanaticism.”

Marine Le Pen, who laid the foundations for the RN’s current dominance, has long been a staunch ally of the Brexit movement. She famously hailed the British electorate’s decision to walk away from “the EU poison” as the “most important moment since the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Although Ms Le Pen is barred from standing in next year’s election due to ongoing legal complications, her successor, Jordan Bardella, is doubling down on the cross-channel alliance.

Last December, Mr Bardella held strategic talks with Nigel Farage in London, seeking to forge a robust alliance to “restore Europe’s borders.”

Praising the Reform UK leader as a “pioneer” who fought for Britain’s independence, Mr Bardella vowed that Mr Farage “will be the next Prime Minister,” describing their meeting as vital preparations for government on both sides of the Channel.