Burnham puts EU rejoining on the table, saying Brexit has done more harm than good
The Prime Minister told the BBC that Britain should weigh every option for its future relationship with the EU, from the status quo to a customs union, the single market, or going “all the way”, and promised to lay out the choices around November’s UK-EU summit.
Andy Burnham has put the prospect of Britain rejoining the European Union back on the political table, telling the BBC on Wednesday that the country should weigh every option for its future relationship with the bloc, including going “all the way”.
“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay,” Burnham told the broadcaster. “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 single market, or we could go all the way.”
The intervention followed his address to Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, where he declared that “Brexit has done more harm than good” and promised to use a UK-EU summit in November to lay out the long-term options for the relationship and seek a consensus around one.
I am very clear, and I will say this bluntly: Brexit has caused more harm than good. So the question is, what do we do about that?Andy Burnham, Prime Minister, BBC interview, 30 September 2026
“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,” he told delegates. “I cannot say to you truthfully that where we are is good enough.”
Speaking to the BBC after the speech, he was blunter still: “I am very clear, and I will say this bluntly: Brexit has caused more harm than good. So the question is, what do we do about that?” He said the options should be assessed on “what is doable” and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
The move risks reopening a debate many in Westminster had hoped was settled. Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, ending more than four decades of membership, and successive governments have wrestled with the economic and diplomatic fallout. Labour’s 2024 manifesto red lines, which rule out a customs union, the single market or freedom of movement, stand for the rest of this parliament, so any closer arrangement would have to come later.
Polling suggests the public may be ahead of the parties. A YouGov survey in June found 55 per cent of voters supported rejoining the EU and 34 per cent opposed it, while 59 per cent backed closer ties short of full membership, the single market or a customs union.
Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister in July, has previously said he would like Britain to rejoin the EU in his lifetime, and has argued the country cannot afford another decade of uncertainty over the question. In Liverpool he also hinted he would sign up to a new migration pact with the EU to cut small-boat crossings, saying control over immigration had been “weakened when we lost collaboration with our European partners”.
The November summit is now the staging post. Burnham promised the conference he would “take the opportunity around the summit to lay out to the country what I believe the different options are for Britain’s long-term relationship with our European partners”, adding: “I will see if we can find consensus around one which will give us clarity about our position, and the future of the continent we live in.”
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