Burnham puts rejoining EU among four options for Britain

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said rejoining the European Union is among the options his government could examine to reshape the UK's long-term relationship with Europe. Speaking to the BBC, Burnham said the current Brexit settlement had caused "more harm than good" and that he wanted to look at "what is doable" to repair relations with the bloc.theguardian.com

The comments matter because they mark the clearest indication yet that Burnham could break from Labour's 2024 election manifesto, which pledged to "make Brexit work" while ruling out rejoining either the customs union or single market. His predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, had pursued a narrower reset, including aligning with EU food standards, a youth visa deal and relinking British industry to the EU's carbon trading regime.bbc.co.uk

Four options on the table

In his interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, broadcast on Wednesday, Burnham set out four options: the status quo, joining a customs union, joining a customs union and the single market, or rejoining. He said: "We could stay as we are. That's definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay." He added that the options needed weighing for what is doable and the pros and cons of each.

Burnham told the Today programme he had previously advocated rejoining within his lifetime, as set out in the book Head North, co-written with Steve Rotheram, while acknowledging it is "not necessarily the case that that is now". He said Britain could not afford another decade of drift and division, and that he did not want to leave the question of the EU relationship hanging.

Speaking at Labour's annual conference in Liverpool 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 promised to find consensus on an option to clarify the UK's position, though he did not offer detail of how that would be measured.

Where the numbers came from

Burnham told the Today programme that Brexit has caused more harm than good and estimated that around 60% of the British public agree with that statement. He said he wanted to use a rescheduled UK-EU summit later this year to lay out different options for the UK's long-term relationship with Europe, and to publish a 10-year plan to transform the UK economy.

The summit was delayed by Sir Keir Starmer's departure from office. Burnham's government will stick to the position of not rejoining the single market or customs union before a general election, but the move sets up a post-election push to reboot the relationship a decade on from the Brexit referendum.

Conservative deputy leader Alex Burghart said Labour cannot pin the blame for their economic decisions on a vote that happened over a decade ago, and accused the government of dragging Britain into the European Union via the back door with its EU reset. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice accused Burnham of trying to sneak Britain back into Brussels via the back door.

Reactions from rival parties

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said his party has put forward concrete plans to boost the economy, strengthen defences and cut taxes by joining the single market and a customs union, adding that talk is cheap and Burnham must stop with the maybes. The Conservatives said Burnham was reopening old wounds by restarting the battles of the Brexit years.

Burnham left the door open to campaigning at the next general election for a mandate to rejoin the EU, having promised during the Makerfield by-election that propelled him back to Parliament not to re-run Brexit arguments. The next dated event on the horizon is the UK-EU summit later this year, where Burnham has said he will set out the options.