UK PM to set out options for closer UK-EU relations later this year

Andy Burnham has said he will set out options for closer UK-EU relations later this year, telling the Labour conference Brexit has done "more harm than good".

In a hint he could ditch the 2024 Labour manifesto's red lines of not returning to the customs union or the single market, the prime minister said Britain must decide on its "long-term relationship" with the bloc.

Burnham said the UK has "lost some control" over the economy and immigration as a result of leaving the EU.

He said in his speech: "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.

"I cannot say to you that where we are is good enough. Brexit has done more harm than good.

"So I will take the opportunity around the UK-EU summit to lay out to you, to lay out to the country, what I believe are the different options for Britain's long-term relationship with our European partners. And there are different options.

"And I will see if we can find consensus around one which will give us clarity about our position and the future of the continent that we live in."

A UK-EU summit scheduled for July was postponed after the resignation of Keir Starmer, and a new date has yet to be decided.

Criticising Brexit, he said: "Brexit hasn't given us control. We've lost some of the control we had over our economy, as a decade of low growth has put us in a weaker position. And we've lost some of our control over immigration.

"At its most fundamental level, this is a debate about fairness. So I understand the anger about what is happening in the Channel.

"Shabana (Mahmood) has done a great job in beginning to restore our grip over the system."

He continued: "We make these changes while always grateful to those who have come here and are contributing to our country.

"But control over immigration was weakened when we lost collaboration with our European partners and we are still having to work hard to bring it back.

"Brexit has done more harm than good."

Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said Burnham should go further and pledge to re-join the bloc.

She said: "Our best-in-class, seat-level polling resoundingly demonstrates half-measures on Europe won't deliver a Labour-led government at the next general election, or protect us from the waking nightmare of prime minister Nigel Farage.

"We said it needed to be a deafening alarm bell to every slumbering Labour MP and snoozing No 10 strategist. Burnham's speech today proves he's wide awake – and alive to the dangers.

"It's vital the Labour government seizes this moment, not in 2029 or a year, or six months' time.

"With the public behind him, progressives imploring them, and the economic case etched in stone, we should signal to the EU – today – that the UK is ready to apply for membership, to take us back to where we belong at the heart of Europe."

By George Lithgow, PA Political and Home Affairs Correspondent

source: PA

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