Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called for an “honest discussion” about the possibility of returning to free movement between the UK and the European Union, as part of his plans to explore a new relationship with the bloc.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mr Burnham said he wants to consider various options for a new relationship with Brussels, potentially including a return to full EU membership or joining the single market, which would require free movement. He said: “I think you have to have a very factual, quite evidence-based debate about this.”
Red Lines and Migration Debate
The Prime Minister has previously committed to the red lines in Labour’s 2024 election manifesto, which ruled out the return of free movement, single market membership, or a customs union, suggesting any fundamental change would have to wait until after a general election. Migration was one of the dominant factors during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign.
Mr Burnham suggested the type of migration experienced during the years of EU membership was different from the challenges faced now. He said: “It was generally younger people, not always, but spending a few years, then going back. And obviously the ease of that worked for British people as well.”
Summit and Future Relationship
Mr Burnham will meet the European Union’s chiefs at a summit on November 20 in Brussels, where he has said he will take the opportunity to lay out to the British public different options for the future relationship with the bloc.
The Prime Minister acknowledged freedom of movement “had very significant challenges associated with it and I spoke about them in my previous time in parliament”. He added: “But at the same time, it was a type of immigration that perhaps wasn’t as difficult (as now). Revolving door migration where people would come and then go back is different. The balance of migration has changed, hasn’t it, since then? I think we’ve just got to have an honest discussion about those things.”
However, Mr Burnham said he could not imagine recommending the UK joins the Schengen borderless area or ditches the pound to adopt the euro. “I can’t see myself ever recommending anything that would involve joining the euro or Schengen,” he said.
