Burnham has just opened the door to a major Brexit U-turn

Andy Burnham has not ruled out a major U-turn on rejoining the European Union. Asked directly whether Labour would commit to coming back to the bloc in his party’s next election manifesto, the Prime Minister said only that it was a question for “another day”. But he said he wanted to “go to the next level” in terms of forging a new deal with the EU “that will further boost the British economy”. The Prime Minister is under pressure to ditch Labour’s Brexit red lines and negotiate a deeper relationship with the EU to boost the economy. As revealed exclusively by The i Paper earlier this month, Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader, has urged the Prime Minister to “put the case” for Britain rejoining the EU in his party’s next manifesto. But any attempt to rejoin would be politically risky and could reopen toxic divides in the country. It would be seized on by the Conservatives and Reform as evidence that the party is willing to betray working-class voters who backed Brexit. Burnham has previously said he would like to see the UK rejoin the EU in his lifetime, but has made no mention of seeking to reverse Brexit since he became PM – likely for this reason. Speaking on his way to the UN General Assembly in New York, Burnham said his “immediate priority” was “rebuilding bridges” with the EU. “Our focus at the moment is on a UK/EU summit which we hope will take place later this year,” he said. “And as I said, my immediate priority is to build on the good work that Keir [Starmer] did in rebuilding bridges. Because those bridges were broken in the early part of this decade. And Keir did a good job in re-establishing that relationship.” Burnham’s ‘immediate priority’ is ‘rebuilding bridges’ with EU Burnham added: “What we have got to do is now is go to the to the next level in terms of reaching practical agreement that will further boost the British economy. And those issues are the substance of the summit alongside EU requests around youth mobility.” The summit, which had been due to take place at the start of November, was postponed after European negotiators refused to guarantee the UK an exemption from the so-called Made in Europe rules that are being developed by Brussels. The legislation, formally known as the Industrial Accelerator Act, is designed to curb China’s increasing presence in European industry. Burnham is expected to have a bilateral meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission later on Tuesday, as he tries to resolve an increasingly bitter dispute. “We do have concerns about Made in Europe, which is something that could affect British industry and British supply chains,” said Burnham. Burnham to meet von der Leyen at UN summit “I will meet the President of the European Commission… and I will, in a constructive spirit, put on the table some of our concerns towards those things at the same time as working towards what we hope will be a successful EU UK summit later this year.” One Whitehall source told The Times this week that the European Commission had previously agreed to exemptions for the UK as part of earlier preparations for the summit, which was meant to have been held in July. However, after Sir Keir Starmer was replaced by Burnham, the EU dropped the concession due to concerns that the new Prime Minister was seeking to reopen parts of the agreement. Burnham was said to have wanted to row back on concessions made by Starmer on the wide-ranging youth mobility scheme that would have allowed up to 100,000 young Europeans to live, work and study in the UK every year.