“We should rejoin the customs union this parliament … we should rejoin the single market. We should try and do this during this parliament,” he told the newspaper.
“And then we should, as a Labour Party, fight the next general election with a clear manifesto commitment, a vote for Labour means we would rejoin the European Union.”
Khan, whose city London voted strongly to remain in the EU in 2016, said the damage Brexit had done had made the U.K. rejoining the bloc “inevitable.”
But asked about the mayor’s comments Thursday, the prime minister’s spokesperson told a regular briefing of journalists in Westminster: “The government’s red lines that are set out in the manifesto stand.”
The spokesperson added that the manifesto was valid for “the duration of the parliament” and when pushed on future plans said: “We’re not going to write the manifesto for the next election here.”
Khan is the most senior Labour figure thus far to broach the topic of the U.K. rejoining the bloc — with the issue still considered a political hot potato in Westminster.