This article was republished 8 March 2026 for International Women’s Day to highlight the incredible women of Bylines Network
The third grassroots conference for members and supporters of the European Movement UK (EMUK) – the organisation dedicated to undoing the damage of Brexit and rebuilding ties with Europe – was held in central London recently.
Around 300 participants, in person and online, attended the third grassroots conference of the EMUK. Eminent guest speakers included Dominic Grieve and Caroline Lucas (Co-Presidents), Emma Knaggs (Deputy CEO EMUK), Cecilia Jastrzembska (YEM President), Mark English (Strategy and Policy Advisor to EMUK) and Michael Nicholson (Head of Environmental Policy at the Institute for European Environmental Policy UK (IEEP UK)).
World events have changed markedly since the conference was first planned. Reminding us of our 80-year history since the Second World War, Grieve said: “We will become a great country again when we are co-operating with the people who are around us, share our values and on whom our security and quality of life depends.”
Knaggs spoke about the Movement’s strategy towards rejoining (soon to be published on the EMUK’s website), while acknowledging that we need a combination of political will, the will of the EU and the people’s will to all align.
The European Movement recognises threats
Some EU countries are facing severe spending cuts which could lead to social unrest and increased support for the far right. English pulled no punches, saying that while things can get worse, we can improve the EU’s chance of recovery if the UK brings a positive mindset to the table.
However, with right-wing parties like the German AfD garnering 20% of the vote in the recent German elections, wearing rose-tinted glasses in the Movement wasn’t realistic.
Lucas spoke of the need for climate action and military defence, saying the UK and EU are in “a terrible mess” and “pollution has no borders”. Nicholson rounded off the morning speeches by asking: “Are we becoming the dirty man of Europe again?”
There was some pushback from the floor. Knaggs was asked why can’t we just jump straight to rejoin. Members stated emphatically that they were here to fight to rejoin even though they were sympathetic to Lucas’s pleas for environmental activism.
Knaggs explained that the strategy’s steps are to be considered as strands running concurrently – Reset, Reimagine, Rebuild and Rejoin; a theme picked up in the closing remarks by Nick Harvey, CEO of the EMUK.
Supporting local groups at grassroot level
The afternoon sessions were aimed at encouraging local groups across the UK. Recent campaigns such as the ‘Face the Music’ campaign and, most recently, the Erasmus campaign were mentioned.
Jack Dart (EMUK Social Media Manager) led a useful session on the changing social media landscape but urged the movement to “hold our ground” because of the need to correct misinformation, stay on social media platforms in meaningful ways and develop constructive dialogue to foster understanding. Some useful tips on how to spot text generated by AI were given.
Joe Meighan (Public Affairs Manager for EMUK) was positive about how businesses are now becoming more vocal about the challenges that Brexit has brought. An important question to consider is “How can I influence my MP?”
Meighan went on to say thatwe need more of this. “We’ve ‘done Brexit’ but it doesn’t work. We need to engage with parliament on and with groups across the pro-European spectrum on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Madeleine Kay and Dorothy Herson spoke of young people as the “trapped generation” – trapped by the cost-of-living crisis, student loan debt, unemployment and the high suicide rate of under-35-year-olds.
Youth mobility has been weaponised by the hard right who want hard borders. So young people are missing out on the European job markets, higher wages and more experience. “Brexit is stealing opportunities from young people,” they said.
Only the EU can offer real growth
In his closing remarks Harvey spoke of Labour and its reset agenda. He said the Tories had left a ‘scorched earth policy’ but had misgivings over Labour’s lack of boldness.
He argued that growth is impossible without putting up taxes, borrowing or rejoining the Single Market, adding, “If we want real growth, EMUK believes the UK has to:
- apply for access to the EU
- confirm that the EU has to decide they want us
- ensure a settled will of the British people.
Starmer can only make progress with a strong position.”
EMUK educating to reimagine the future
Harvey has extracted data from many polls over time and has observed that polling suggests 20-25% of people are nationalistic, progressive and pro-EU, a low 20% are ‘beyond hope’, while more than 50% in between have little or no awareness of Brexit. Nobody born after 1998 voted in the referendum, meaning that there’s a huge education job to be done.
The EMUK needs to help people to reimagine a different future. Current campaigns are trying to reach different local groups, smaller campaigns are reaching out to scientists, musicians, students and young people and soon the EMUK will be commissioning a huge poll to find where the gaps are and who they contain.
This is why we need to get behind the strategy “step by step, increment by increment, to get to our final goal of rejoining the EU”. This produced a large round of applause, because of course that is what the audience came for.
So now, it’s back to the grassroots. Onwards and upwards!
Since writing this report events across the world have developed at pace and members in various WhatsApp conversations are saying we must rejoin the EU as soon as possible or at least the Single Market, notwithstanding calls for a European defence force.
