The Guardian view on Britain and the EU: Ed Davey is right – a changed world changes the argument | Editorial

M embership of the European single market was at stake when the UK voted on Brexit , but it was not the decisive question in the campaign. The leave campaign dishonestly promised a cost-free severance of ties with Britain’s largest trading partner. As immigration came to dominate the debate, the requirement to allow free movement of people as a condition of seamless integration with European markets undermined the remainers’ most compelling argument. Reluctance to advocate a liberal migration regime imposed a taboo on calls to reconsider the Brexit settlement, even as warnings about the cost of rupture were vindicated. Now, after a decade of forsaken growth, the mood is finally changing. On Wednesday, Sir Ed Davey used a speech marking the referendum anniversary to call for Britain to rejoin the single market. The Liberal Democrat leader describes Brexit as an experiment that has failed. He observes that the world has changed since 2016. These things are self-evidently true and public opinion has shifted accordingly. Opinion polls regularly show a majority would vote to reverse the referendum outcome. The idea that Britain needed liberation from Brussels to enjoy competitive advantages was misguided already at a time when the US was a reliable ally, upholding a rules-based global economic order. …