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Andrew Neil destroyed calls for the UK to rejoin the EU during a brutal attack on BBC Question Time last night.
The veteran broadcaster tore apart demands for Britain to return to the bloc in the next decade, arguing the UK would be returning to a completely different Europe from the one it left in 2016.
His comments came as the BBC show debated whether the UK should rejoin the EU, following demands from Sir Tony Blair’s think tank for closer ties.
Andrew Neil: That Is A Different Europe
“The political class continue this debate today as if the Europe we left in 2016 is the Europe of today, it’s nothing like the Europe of today.”
Andrew Neil on Question Time
Mr Neil pointed out that centrist leaders were in charge of France, Germany and Italy when Britain voted to leave. He said that landscape has now completely changed.
He said: Today, the AfD in Germany, if you want to see a hard-right party, go to Germany. If there were an election tomorrow, the AfD would have more seats in the Bundestag than the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats combined.
He added: Every opinion poll in France, no matter who she’s up against, Marine Le Pen wins next year’s presidential election. And, of course, Italy already has the populist right.
Mr Neil continued: Six or seven countries by this time next year will be run by right or pretty hard-right governments. That’s a different Europe.
UK Growing Faster Than EU Big Three
The broadcaster also highlighted economic data since Brexit, arguing that despite sluggish growth, Britain has outperformed the EU’s biggest economies.
“Our growth rate is nothing to write home about, but our growth rate every year since Covid has been higher than the growth rate of the three biggest European economies – Germany, Italy and France. We’ve grown more every year than they have.”
Andrew Neil
He added: I don’t for the life of me understand how you can say things will get better if we join the single market and the customs union because we’re already growing more quickly than the three biggest economies.
Liberal Democrat President Josh Babarinde had earlier called for closer ties with the EU, saying businesses were struggling with trade barriers and the economy had been flatlining for years.
He said he had been on the protests, voted Remain, and wants to see Britain at the heart of Europe again to get access to cash in the European market by cutting through barriers.
FAQs
What did Andrew Neil say about rejoining the EU on Question Time?
Andrew Neil warned that Britain would be returning to a different Europe dominated by hard-right governments, including the AfD in Germany and Marine Le Pen in France, and that centrist leaders who were in charge in 2016 are no longer dominant.
Who was on Question Time with Andrew Neil?
Question Time was live from Cambridge on September 24th 2026 with Fiona Bruce. Panellists included Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Helen Whately, Liberal Democrat President Josh Babarinde, Andrew Neil and Ash Sarkar.
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The EUseless is a dead duck, it’s full of lefty beurocrats who are intent upon taxing anything and everything to death and then taxing the funeral.
The EU started out with good intentions when it was formed as the common market for ease of trading, what it has morphed into is nothing of the sort. Andrew Neil is right we do not need to be part of the EU but for the wrong reasons.