EU MEP predicts UK will rejoin after poll suggests support

European Parliament Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA. - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

A leading figure in the European Parliament has predicted that the UK will rejoin the EU, claiming it will return “where it belongs”.

Guy Verhofstadt made the claim after polling showed that support for the European Union within the UK had reached a record-high – days before the end of the transition period.

Verhofstadt lead the parliament’s Brexit negotiations until 2020 and sits on the working group for the Conference on the Future of Europe.

The Belgian MEP tweeted: “As I have always said, one day a politician will bring Britain back home to where it belongs – at the centre of our common European destiny!”

As I have always said, one day a politician will bring Britain back home to where it belongs – at the centre of our common European destiny! 🇪🇺🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/G8HiJeRRPj

— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) November 17, 2020

Arthur Smith replied: “I sincerely hope I live long enough to see that, meantime we have some work to do to dump the Conservative party government in the next few years before they do any more damage.”

Helen Salmon wrote: “So many of us here in Britain want this. Thank you for giving us hope.”

Andra Parnall tweeted: “I sincerely hope that person is already born, and if not already an active politician, will enter politics soon and rise rapidly to that position that will see your and my dream come true.”

Michael Goulden commented: “We will return to the heart of Europe with our European brothers and sisters. The insanity of Brexit will be exposed for the con trick that it always was. It might take a while though, but I’m optimistic and hopeful.”

MORE: Has Brexit gone off the boil?

Colin Morrison, however, predicted that “it’ll return, piecemeal, diminished and chastened, junior partners in a union they used to be a major player in.”