Andy Burnham has said Britain could ultimately rejoin the European Union as his government prepares to reconsider the country’s long-term relationship with Europe.
The Prime Minister said full EU membership would be one of several options examined ahead of a UK-EU summit in November.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Burnham laid out four possible directions for Britain.
He said the UK could remain under the current post-Brexit arrangements, join a customs union, return to the single market or “go all the way” and consider full membership of the European Union.
Burnham said:
“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay. 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 said ministers would look at “what is doable” and examine the pros and cons of each option before deciding what should happen next.
It is the clearest indication yet that Burnham is prepared to reconsider some of the Brexit red lines Labour fought the 2024 general election on.
Burnham says Brexit has done ‘more harm than good’
The comments came a day after Burnham used his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister to give a blunt assessment of Brexit.
“I am very clear, and I will say this bluntly: Brexit has caused more harm than good,” he said.
“So the question is, what do we do about that?”
Burnham told delegates in Liverpool that Britain could no longer avoid making a long-term decision about its relationship with its largest trading partner.
He said:
“We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of the century until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market.”
He promised to set out the choices facing the country around the time of the UK-EU summit in November.
The language marks a clear break with the approach Labour took into the 2024 election.
That manifesto ruled out returning to the EU single market, joining a customs union or restoring freedom of movement.
Burnham has not announced that any of those policies will now be adopted.
Instead, he is saying they will be considered.
Four options are now on the table
The first option is essentially to leave the current relationship alone.
Britain would remain outside the EU, customs union and single market while continuing to negotiate individual agreements with Brussels.
The second would be joining a customs union.
Former Conservative chancellor George Osborne has recently argued for Britain to take that route, saying Brexit had been “a mess” and that closer trading arrangements would ease some of the economic disruption caused by leaving the bloc.
A customs union would reduce some barriers to trade in goods because Britain and the EU would apply the same tariffs to imports from outside countries.
It would not, by itself, return Britain to the single market.
The third option is the route advocated by the Liberal Democrats: rejoining the single market.
That would involve much closer regulatory alignment with the EU and would require negotiations over the conditions attached.
Then there is Burnham’s fourth option.
“Go all the way.”
In practice, that means reopening the question of full British membership of the European Union.
Britain would not simply get its old membership back
Even if a future government decided it wanted to rejoin, it would not be as simple as reversing the Brexit process.
Britain would have to apply for membership and negotiate terms with the EU and its existing member states.
Questions around freedom of movement, budget contributions, regulatory rules and Britain’s wider relationship with European institutions would all need to be addressed.
Burnham has not said what conditions he would be prepared to accept.
He has also not announced a second referendum.
The government is still at the stage of examining possible models rather than presenting a settled plan.
That makes the November summit particularly important.
The UK and EU are already discussing closer cooperation in several areas, including electricity markets, food trade and youth mobility.
Britain is also due to take part in the Erasmus+ student exchange programme again from 2027.
Burnham says Britain has been stuck in a ‘rut’
Burnham has argued that Britain has spent too long without resolving its relationship with Europe.
He told BBC Breakfast that the country had been “in a rut” and said the current position was not working well enough.
His criticism is not limited to trade.
During his conference speech, Burnham argued that Brexit had weakened Britain’s ability to cooperate with neighbouring countries on immigration as well as damaging economic ties.
He has previously said he would like to see Britain rejoin the European Union within his lifetime.
Until now, though, his government had been more cautious about what that could mean in practice.
His latest comments put full membership directly into the list of options ministers will examine.
Conservatives accuse Burnham of reopening Brexit
The prospect has already drawn criticism from Conservatives.
Former cabinet minister Michael Gove, who campaigned for Leave in 2016, argued that reopening the issue would frustrate voters and return powers over British policy to Brussels.
The Conservatives accused Burnham of reopening the divisions of the Brexit years.
Burnham’s government will also have to deal with voters who backed Leave and have no interest in revisiting the referendum result.
That is one reason Labour has spent much of the past decade being careful about reopening the membership question.
But public opinion on Brexit has changed since 2016.
A YouGov poll reported by Reuters in June found 55 per cent of voters supported rejoining the EU, although support for membership can vary depending on the terms attached and how questions are asked.
Burnham now appears willing to have that argument.
For the moment, he is not promising to take Britain back into the EU.
He is saying it should no longer be ruled out.
And after years in which Labour insisted the Brexit settlement would not be reopened, that is a substantial change.
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