Burnham says Britain could rejoin the EU after next election

[LONDON] Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he could campaign to take Britain back into the European Union at the next general election, reopening the country’s debate on its relationship with the continent a decade on from the Brexit vote.

Burnham outlined three options he would discuss at a UK-EU summit slated for later this year. One is rejoining the EU, one is rejoining the bloc’s single market, and another is entering a customs union, he told the BBC in an interview aired on Wednesday (Sep 30) morning.

“We could stay as we are, that’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay,” the premier said. “We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union,” he added, referring to the former Conservative chancellor of the exchequer. “We could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market. Or we could go all the way.”

Burnham’s remarks are the first time since the exit referendum a decade ago that a UK prime minister has suggested they could try to take the country back into the EU. He argued in his keynote speech at Labour’s annual conference on Tuesday that Brexit wasn’t working for Britain, but his comments on Wednesday went further. 

He has stressed he will keep to the current Labour campaign manifesto during this Parliament, which binds him to staying outside the single market and customs union. However, he said in his speech that he wanted to determine a new path for Britain’s relations with the EU at a summit later this year and then make the case for it at the next general election, which he has said will be in 2029. BLOOMBERG