Burnham 'betrays British workers and jobless youngsters' by raising the spectre of free movement with the EU

Published: 18:59 EDT, 25 October 2026 | Updated: 19:38 EDT, 25 October 2026 Andy Burnham was accused of betraying British workers and jobless youngsters as he opened the door to reviving free movement with the EU.In a major intervention, the Prime Minister signalled he is ready to suspend Labour's Brexit 'red lines' to secure a closer deal with Brussels.Angela Rayner suggested that Labour could even take Britain back into the EU's single market without holding a referendum.The PM's comments triggered a major backlash – and warnings it would deliver a 'hammer blow' to the job prospects of British youngsters.Nigel Farage accused Mr Burnham of a 'complete betrayal' of the 2016 referendum, which he had pledged to respect while campaigning to return to Parliament this summer.The Reform leader said: 'Freedom of movement would undercut working people's wages with cheap foreign labour – a complete betrayal of what the British people want and voted for.'Kemi Badenoch said the PM's intervention was 'yet another example of Burnham's foot-in-mouth syndrome', adding: 'He hasn't thought this through or the implications.'She acknowledged past Tory mistakes on immigration, but added: 'The answer is to learn from those mistakes, not reopen free movement.' Andy Burnham opened the door to reviving free movement with the EU without a referendumMs Rayner said the PM wants an 'honest conversation' about the issue ahead of a UK-EU summit in Brussels where Mr Burnham plans to reopen the Brexit debate, and claimed that returning to the divisive subject was 'part of bringing the country together'.Mr Burnham acknowledged that free movement was associated with 'significant challenges'. But, he told the Sunday Times, the pre-Brexit wave of immigration was not 'as difficult' as the one which followed.Despite the fact that more than four million citizens were granted settled status in the UK when Britain left the EU, the PM claimed that free movement was a 'revolving door' where 'people would come and then go back'.Diplomatic sources told the Mail that accepting free movement would be essential to rejoining the single market or return to full membership of the EU.Ms Rayner said Labour had not settled on a new relationship with the EU.Former Tory chancellor Sir Jeremy Hunt, who backed Remain at the referendum, said: 'We have a million people not in employment, education or training – young people. To suddenly say you are prepared to negotiate allowing people from all over Europe to come and take those jobs, I think it will be a hammer blow to those plans to get people off welfare and into work.'Labour's former cost of living tsar Richard Walker said it would be a mistake to 'reopen those old wounds'. The Iceland supermarket boss added: 'What is it going to do opening up our labour markets to the whole of Europe?'Ms Rayner denied that Mr Burnham was breaking Labour's election pledges on Brexit, saying: 'We have to go forwards, and therefore you have to look at what that future relationship will look like.'