Brussels thought Brexit could be reversed quietly⊠then Marine Le Penâs camp stepped in. Now Franceâs rising nationalist movement is warning Labour: no second referendum, no return to the EU. Meanwhile Nigel Farage is already being tipped as the man who could bury the âBreturnâ dream for good.

Marine Le Pen could stop Britain rejoining EU if she wins power in France
Senior figures in Ms Le Penâs party have insisted they would oppose any move to force Britain back into the bloc
Marine Le Penâs National Rally (RN) could block Britainâs return to the EU if it wins power at the next election, senior party officials have indicated.
Labour leadership contenders have weighed up a potential to return to Brussels after the next General Election â but such a move could only be done with the consent of all of the unionâs 27 member states.
The RNâs president, Jordan Bardella, is widely tipped as the favourite to clinch victory in next yearâs French presidential elections â and could veto the reversal, according to his economic adviser Charles-Henri Gallois.
Mr Gallois â who also represents the party as an MEP â said RN may veto any move to
He told The Telegraph: âTo do so without a referendum would obviously be a denial of democracy because the people expressed their will through a referendum to leave.
âItâs a bit of a special case, but yes we would oppose it without a referendum, I think, because in any case weâre against any enlargement of the EU anyway.
âIt seems perfectly normal to me, given that there was a referendum to leave, that we canât accept a country rejoining without a referendum.â
The RN officialâs intervention comes as the debate surrounding Britainâs membership of the EU was reignited by several would-be Labour prime ministers
Ms Le Penâs party are widely tipped to storm to victory in next yearâs French presidential elections
Launching his leadership bid over the weekend, Mr Streeting declared that Britainâs future âlies with Europe, and one day back in the European Unionâ, branding Brexit âa catastrophic mistakeâ.
Andy Burnham â who echoed similar sentiments at last yearâs Labour conference â appeared to walk back on his previous stance, saying Brexit had been âdamagingâ but âthe last thing we should do right now is re-run those argumentsâ.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out a return to the  political union one day, insisting he would ânot get lost in a debate about what might happen years down the lineâ.
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, RNâs deputy parliamentary leader, lambasted the prospect of a Brexit reversal without another referendum, declaring: âQuelle horreur!â
Mr Gallois said RN may veto any move to return Britain to the EU unless Labour held a second referendum
But if Reform UK wins power at the next election, the RN may not need to intervene.
Mr Gallois insisted he did not believe his party would have to act to stop a âBreturnâ â even if it lost next yearâs election.
He said: âNigel Farage will win the General Election before thereâs any talk of a referendum or anything like that. And so, that will put an end to that possibility once and for all.â
However, the RN MEP warned that if pro-EU centrists clinched victory over his party, they would seek to âpunish the UK out of a sort of quasi-religious fanaticismâ.
Ms Le Pen has long-been an ardent backer of Brexit, hailing the British electorateâs decision to walk away from âthe EU poisonâ as the âmost important moment since the fall of the Berlin Wallâ.
Mr Streeting declared that Britainâs future âlies with Europe, and one day back in the European Unionâ
Mr Bardella previously held talks with Nigel Farage in London, seeking to forge an alliance with Reform UK
She campaigned on leading France out of the EU via a referendum in her bid to become French President in 2017, but was subsequently defeated by Emmanuel Macron.
However, Ms Le Pen will not be allowed to stand as RNâs candidate next year after being found to have embezzled EU funds â leaving Mr Bardella to lead the charge.
In December, he held talks with Nigel Farage in London, seeking to forge an alliance with Reform UK to ârestore Europeâs bordersâ.
The RN candidate also vowed that Mr Farage âwill be the next Prime Ministerâ, describing the meeting as preparations for government.
Mr Bardella was full of praise for his British counterpart after the talks, labelling Mr Farage a âpioneerâ who fought for Britainâs independence from the EU.


