Andy Burnham has opened the door to the UK rejoining the EU, saying Britain could “go all the way”, as he prepares to reconsider Labour’s post-Brexit red lines.
The prime minister used a series of interviews after his emotional Labour conference speech to spell out how wide-ranging his consideration of Britain’s future with Brussels could be because Brexit had caused “more harm than good”.
Burnham said the government could keep the current arrangements, seek a customs union, return to the single market or “go all the way” in what would be full EU membership. Speaking to the BBC, he said ministers would examine “what is doable” and the “pros and cons” of each option.
Asked whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc, the prime minister told Radio 4’s Today programme he wanted to “look at the options”. He added: “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.”
It is a significant shift from the position Labour fought the 2024 election on. Its manifesto explicitly ruled out returning to the EU single market or customs union, as well as restoring freedom of movement.
A customs union would bring Britain much closer to the EU on trade in goods. The UK and EU would apply the same tariffs to imports from elsewhere, removing trade barriers businesses have faced after Brexit. But it would not on its own put Britain back inside the wider single market or remove every border check.
If Britain were to rejoin the single market, it would be a significant step with the country having to accept closer alignment with EU rules.
“There are clearly options that need to be considered, and we have to look at what is doable and what would be the pros and cons of each,” Burnham told the BBC.
Although Burnham has not set out any timetables or specifics, to “go all the way” would mean considering EU membership. He went further in his interviews on Wednesday than his conference speech in which he told delegates Britain could not keep avoiding a decision about its long-term relationship with its largest trading partner.
The prime minister has vowed to set out different choices facing the country around the time of the UK-EU summit in November. “We’ve been in a rut. The country hasn’t been working for people as it should,” he told BBC Breakfast. The summit was originally supposed to take place in July under Keir Starmer but was postponed after his resignation.
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While Britain will take part in the Erasmus + scheme again in 2027, the EU has authorised talks at the summit on closer electricity-market links, with negotiations on food trade and youth mobility still under way.
Burnham argued in his conference speech that leaving the EU had weakened Britain’s cooperation with EU countries on migration and said the summit would assess how the two parties could work more closely. “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,” Burnham said in his speech on Tuesday in Liverpool.
“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.”
The prime minister was more cautious when pressed on help households could receive in the budget given the looming winter and rising energy and fuel costs. Burnham said he was considering “everything that might help people” including whether to scrap panned fuel duty increases.
“The question I’ve got is: ‘How many can I afford?’” he told BBC Breakfast. The chancellor, John Healey, has said “fiscal discipline” will be at the heart of his budget despite facing calls to offer people more help with the cost of living.
