Six weeks ago, Prime Minister Andy Burnham suggested Britain "could go all the way" and rejoin the European Union. This week, he downplayed his own idea. "No one's talking about rejoining," he said, as he heads into a UK-EU summit in Brussels on November 20 trying to slow down a conversation he started about the country's long-term relationship with Europe.
Burnham has privately made clear to Labour colleagues that he is not in a rush to decide what he wants his long-term EU policy to be, according to government officials familiar with the matter. Downing Street has not even begun discussing which outcome it might favour, one official said. The prime minister is open-minded and keen not to back a particular option before much wider consultation with his party, businesses, the public and the EU.
Reigniting the debate about Britain's place in Europe — a decade on from the 2016 referendum — was Burnham's own decision. In a speech at Labour's party conference in September and in media interviews that followed, he said he wanted to begin a discussion about whether the UK should eventually rejoin the bloc, or at least move much closer by entering its single market or a customs union. Those options all remain on the table, officials said, but it will be some time before Burnham arrives at a preferred route — and an option will not be chosen in time for the government's 10-year plan, set to be laid out in December.
The intervention has drawn a mixed reaction inside Labour and beyond. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh back much closer ties, officials said, while Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey, Burnham's de facto deputy Louise Haigh, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Health Secretary Yvette Cooper and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy favour a more cautious approach. All agree the conversation should be carefully managed and not pre-determined, views expressed at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Feedback from the City of London and businesses has also helped tamp down the speculation. Bloomberg reported this week that the UK is opposed to rule-taking on either financial services or AI, and a government official said it would not be Burnham's preference in any long-term negotiation to be a rule-taker in those areas — implying reluctance to pursue a so-called Norway-style option of single-market membership without influence over its rules.
In an intervention earlier this week, former prime minister David Cameron — who called the 2016 referendum and campaigned unsuccessfully to remain in the EU — told Bloomberg that Britain should not rejoin. "Instead of launching an argument about rejoining — which I think would be a very long and painful argument and who knows where it would end up — instead of that, focus on how do we be the best friend, best neighbour, best partner," Cameron said in an interview on The Mishal Husain Show.
For now, Burnham's priority is finalising a more modest deal at the November 20 summit on trade rules for plant and animal products and youth mobility. On Monday he will deliver a speech on foreign policy in which he will repeat his desire for closer relations with Europe. One official allied to Burnham said his approach would be conversation rather than negotiation, with the aim of fostering a better trade relationship. Another official said it was naive, arguing that Burnham had opened Pandora's Box without a plan for what he is trying to achieve.
