The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has reacted warmly to Andy Burnham’s suggestion that the UK could rejoin the EU.
“Welcome back,” the French leader said in English with a smile at a news conference in Madrid on Wednesday. Macron continued in French: “If the British want to come back and if the prime minister is moving in that direction, I think that is very good news, both for his country and for the Europeans.”
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said his country would open its arms to any bid from the UK to rejoin the EU.
The two leaders were responding to the British prime minister’s speech at the Labour party conference in which Burnham said Britain would not have a clear path “until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market” and that Brexit had “done more harm than good”.
In a series of interviews on Wednesday, Burnham said the government could maintain the status quo, seek a customs union, return to the single market or “go all the way” for full EU membership.
Macron said the British had “always been useful in helping us simplify things” when the UK was part of the EU and were “demanding partners”. Burnham “is right to have this boldness”, he added.
Earlier, Macron, who has frequently accused the proponents of Brexit of misleading the public, said Brexit had been “the biggest lie of the last 30 years”, pointing to shortfalls in promised economic growth and trade opportunities.
Sandro Gozi, an Italian Social Democrat, told the Guardian: “Burnham has finally swept away the so-called red lines that have constrained the debate on Britain’s relationship with Europe. That is a welcome and important step.”
The MEP, who co-chairs the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly, added: “Europe should respond with the same openness. We should be ready to turn the page and build a new EU-UK partnership, removing unnecessary barriers and restoring much closer economic and political cooperation.”
EU officials welcomed the change in tone but said it was up to the UK to define what it wanted from the future relationship. They have told their British counterparts that the UK is welcome to join the customs union or single market via membership of the European Economic Area.
In recent weeks Brussels has again mooted British membership of the customs union as an answer to the bloc’s Made in Europe policy, which could exclude British clean technology and electric vehicles from valuable European subsidy programmes and public contracts.
But EU officials also stress that joining the customs union would require full alignment with EU trade policy and tariffs. Single market membership means accepting free movement of people, alongside free movement of goods, services and capital.
More than 10 years after the Brexit vote, the EU remains attached to its red lines. A recent proposal from the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, that Canada should become the EU’s first-ever associate member, is not seen as a serious option for the UK (or even Canada). The idea is widely regarded by EU insiders as an ill-defined symbolic gesture with no legal basis.
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The EU and UK are due to hold a summit in Brussels, with a date in the second half of November expected to be announced in the coming days. The annual gathering was postponed after the resignation of Keir Starmer.
The Burnham government has made resolving Britain’s exclusion from Made in Europe a top priority, but several EU sources say the issue will not be settled at the summit as the EU is yet to agree its internal position on key legislative texts.
France is the staunchest opponent of opening Made in Europe to countries outside the EU, including the UK.
Macron pointed to the limits of the UK seeking close ties with the EU while remaining outside. “You cannot choose between the freedoms of the union, nor can you decide to take what suits you and leave the rest,” he said. “So, come back.”
A European Commission spokesperson said: “The UK is a close and valued partner of the European Union. It is for the UK government to set out how it wishes to develop its relationship with the EU going forward. We remain open to engaging on the options it may put forward.”
