Burnham puts rejoining the EU on the table for 2029

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK could rejoin the EU after the next general election.

Burnham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday (30 September) that Brexit had caused more harm than good. He said he wanted to look at what was realistically achievable to repair relations with Europe.

He set out the options he would weigh at a UK-EU summit later this year, which range from keeping the current deal to full membership. These include:

• Staying in the current arrangement
• Joining a customs union, as former Conservative chancellor George Osborne has proposed
• Joining the single market, as the Liberal Democrats backed at their conference
• Rejoining the EU in full

“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay,” said Burnham.

“We could look at what 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,” he added.

Bloomberg reported that this is the first time since the 2016 referendum that a sitting UK prime minister has raised taking the country back into the EU.

Burnham has said he will stick to Labour’s 2024 manifesto for the rest of this parliament. That manifesto pledged to make Brexit work and ruled out rejoining the single market or a customs union.

He plans to settle on a preferred option at the summit and put it to voters at the next general election. Burnham has said that election will take place in 2029.

As a candidate in the Makerfield by-election that returned him to Parliament, Burnham promised not to re-run Brexit arguments. He also said at the time that he was not proposing the UK consider rejoining the EU.

Predecessor Keir Starmer pursued a narrower reset with Brussels during his time in office. His deals included aligning with EU food standards, a youth visa scheme and relinking British industry to the EU’s carbon trading system.

Starmer’s departure from office pushed a planned summer summit with the EU back to later this year. Burnham also wants to use the summit to publish a 10-year plan for the UK economy.

In his Labour conference speech on Tuesday (29 September), Burnham blamed Brexit for a loss of control over immigration and the economy. He told delegates he would work to find consensus on a single option for the UK’s future relationship with Europe.

“Talk is cheap. Burnham must stop with all the ‘maybes’ and get negotiating that better deal for Britain today,” said Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats.

“He says Brexit has done more harm than good but what’s done real harm is a Labour government that can’t deliver growth, can’t control migration and now wants to outsource the job to Brussels,” said Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK.

“Labour cannot pin the blame for their disastrous economic decisions on a vote that happened over a decade ago,” said Alex Burghart, deputy leader of the Conservatives.

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