Labour MP Jess Phillips has said she wants the party's next general election manifesto to commit Britain to rejoining the European Union, calling Brexit "a total disaster" for the country.
The Birmingham Yardley MP and former minister was speaking at the Cliveden Literary Festival in Berkshire over the weekend.
Jess Phillips: 'We should be brave enough to argue for it'
She said: "I would love to rejoin the European Union, and it would be better for our country, and we should be brave enough to argue for it."
Asked whether she would like to see the commitment in Labour's next manifesto, she replied: "Yes." She added: "personally, I think Brexit has been a total disaster. It has harmed our economy."
Jess Phillips suggested that rejoining could be put to voters through a general election rather than another referendum, saying: "I would be delighted to put it back to the country, whether in a general election or - I don't run towards having another referendum, I'll tell you that for nothing."
'I miss being a European citizen'
Speaking personally, she said: "I miss being a European citizen; I miss it on behalf of my children."
She added: "I look at the superpowers of our world and I would feel much, much better if I felt less isolated from our nearest, most moral economic partners."
A growing debate in the party
Her comments add to a growing debate within Labour about Britain's long-term relationship with Europe. At conference, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Brexit had done more harm than good and that he would set out options for the UK's future relationship with the EU, while saying it was possible a future manifesto could address the question.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has also urged the party to prepare the ground, arguing at conference that "the heavy lifting, the pitch rolling must be done now."
Jess Phillips backed Remain in 2016. Her intervention comes on the day MPs return to Westminster, where a petition calling for the UK to rejoin the EU is due to be debated.
