Andy Burnham has raised the prospect of putting Britain’s EU rejoining options to voters at the next general election, telling Labour’s party conference in Liverpool that the country must settle on a long-term relationship with its largest trading partner. The Prime Minister said he would set out what he called the ‘different options’ for Britain’s future with the European Union around the time of the forthcoming UK-EU summit.
Burnham’s spokesman declined to rule out the possibility that Labour could campaign on a full rejoin pledge, stating that the Prime Minister ‘will set out the options around the time of the EU summit’ and that the party would ‘put this on the ballot paper at the next election’. For now, the government says it will maintain so-called red lines against rejoining the customs union and single market before that election takes place.
The position represents a clear shift in tone. Morningstar reports that Labour’s 2024 election manifesto explicitly ruled out joining a customs union or single market and ruled out any return of freedom of movement with the EU. The Prime Minister now appears willing to put all those questions back to the public once a post-summit picture is clearer.
Burnham EU rejoining options take shape ahead of November summit
According to Reuters, Burnham said earlier on Tuesday that he intends to use a November UK-EU summit to outline the options for Britain’s long-term relationship with the bloc. The summit was originally scheduled for 22 July but was delayed following the leadership change and does not yet have a confirmed date, though it is expected to take place before the end of the year.
Burnham told delegates that the current state of the UK-EU relationship was not ‘good enough’ and that ‘Brexit has done more harm than good‘. He argued that immigration controls had been ‘weakened’ by Britain’s departure from the EU, a claim that will sit uncomfortably with those in the party who spent years defending the Brexit vote on precisely those grounds.
‘We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of this century until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market,’ the Prime Minister told the conference. He added: ‘There are different options, and I will see if we can find consensus around one.’
Hamish Falconer, minister of state for intergovernmental relations and European relations, told an event hosted by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that Burnham wanted to go ‘further and faster’ in rebuilding links with Europe. ‘He thinks Europe is an important question for the UK, that Brexit has not been a success, and so he is quite rightly sending me off with an ambitious set of instructions to try and get us closer to Europe faster,’ Falconer said.
A divided party and a contested political space
The broader political landscape complicates any move Burnham makes on Europe. Reuters reports that George Osborne, a former Conservative finance minister, has argued that Britain should pursue a customs union with the EU, while the Liberal Democrats have called for Britain to rejoin the bloc’s single market. That cross-party noise gives Burnham both political cover and a more crowded field.
Within Labour itself, the issue carries risk. Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, is the only senior party figure to have publicly backed a full rejoining pledge. Others, including Wes Streeting and Peter Kyle, have pushed for the UK to cross the customs union red line without going as far as full membership.
Foreign secretary Ed Miliband has also spoken of a ‘deeper’ partnership with Europe, telling the conference on Monday: ‘Europe is not just our geography, but so much more.’ The sentiment aligns with Burnham’s direction, though neither has committed to a specific destination.
The Prime Minister said the UK would work with all 27 member states to ‘secure gains for our British industries most harmed by Brexit‘ and on immigration. ‘These are important concrete steps but they are not enough,’ he told delegates. The government’s next concrete move comes with the November summit, where Burnham has said he will begin laying out what Britain’s choices actually look like.
