Move to rejoin EU among options for UK, says Burnham

Move to rejoin EU among options for UK, says Burnham

Andy Burnham has said that rejoining the EU is among the options the government could consider as it seeks to reshape the UK’s long-term relationship with Europe.

The prime minister told the BBC that the current Brexit settlement had done "more harm than good", and said he wanted to examine "what is doable" to improve relations.

His comments follow a pledge in his Labour conference speech on Tuesday to look at closer ties with the bloc at a delayed summit later this year.

The proposal could create a major fault line at the next general election, with the Conservatives accusing him of trying to "reopen old wounds by restarting the battles of the Brexit years".

Last week, Burnham left open the possibility of campaigning at the next general election for a mandate to rejoin the EU.

When he stood as a candidate in the Makerfield by-election that led to his return to Parliament, he had promised not to "re-run" Brexit arguments and said he was "not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU".

However, his latest remarks are the strongest sign yet that he could make a clear break from Labour's 2024 election manifesto, which pledged to "make Brexit work" while ruling out rejoining either its customs union or single market.

His predecessor Sir Keir Starmer had instead sought a narrower reset in relations, including alignment with EU food standards, a youth visa deal and reconnecting British industry to the EU's carbon trading regime.

Sir Keir's exit from office pushed back a summer summit with the EU until later this year, when Burnham has also said he wants to publish a 10-year plan to transform the UK economy.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Burnham said he did not want the question of the EU relationship left "hanging" and wanted to be clear about "where we want Britain to go in the next decade".

When asked whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the EU, he said he wanted to "look at the options".

He added that he had previously supported such a move within his lifetime, while acknowledging it was "not necessarily the case that that is now".

"We could stay as we are. That's definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay," he told the programme.

"We could look at what [former Chancellor] George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market, or we could go all the way."

"So there are clearly options that need to be considered, and we have to look at what is doable and what would be the pros and cons of each," he added.

In his conference speech on Tuesday, Burnham blamed Brexit for a loss of control over both immigration and the economy, telling delegates he did not believe the current relationship was "good enough".

He told activists he wanted to use the rescheduled summit later this year to set out "different options" for the UK's long-term relationship with Europe.

He promised to "find consensus" on an option to clarify the UK's position, though he did not give further detail on how this would be measured.

In response to Burnham's conference speech, Conservative deputy leader Alex Burghart said: "Labour cannot pin the blame for their disastrous economic decisions on a vote that happened over a decade ago.

"Besides, they are already dragging us into the European Union via the back door with their EU reset."