Nigel Farage has declared that Britain will never “vote to rejoin” the EU as fears intensify that Prime Minister Andy Burnham is plotting a second referendum. The Reform UK leader accused the Prime Minister of having a “completely outdated view of the world” where he regards the EU as a “big, lovely, friendly, cuddly club”.
Mr Farage warned that pressure from Labour’s traditional heartlands in the North will prevent Mr Burnham from leading Britain straight back into the bloc. He told the Sunday Express that leaving in 2016 was the “hard thing to do”, adding that the country will never “vote to rejoin”.
Northern pressure and referendum fears
Large swathes of Northern England and the Midlands abandoned the Labour Party after Brexit, first turning to Boris Johnson in 2019 and then voting Reform in the 2026 local elections.
Mr Farage told the Express: “Blair wanted to join the euro, but he was forced into promising a referendum. I suspect the pressure on Burnham from the North would mean he'd have to put it as a referendum.
“I think Burnham will be forced into promising a referendum, to which I would say, why on earth would you want to put the country through all that again? I mean, Burnham says: 'Look, I'm a nice, lovely, cuddly guy. I want to unite the country.' I can't think of anything that would, frankly, that would divide it as much as this.
“Voting to Leave was the hard thing to do. Not rejoining will be an easy thing to do. Why would you join this club? Look at the obstacles, look at the barriers, look at the costs, what it would mean. We would never vote to rejoin.”
EU leaders’ response and economic warnings
EU leaders gathering in Brussels admitted they would welcome Britain back with open arms – for a price. Mr Farage claimed this would be £42 billion a year.
Czech prime minister Andrej Babis was accused of saying “the quiet bit out loud” when he said of Britain rejoining: “Of course, we need more money.” And the Netherlands’ prime minister Rob Jetten said: “In the end, it’s up to the British people to decide what the relationship looks like.”
Bulgaria’s prime minister Rumen Radev even said the UK can return but “must learn its lesson”. Slovenia’s prime minister Janez Jansa said: “The UK leaving was one of the biggest catastrophes for the EU in the entire time of its existence.”
Reform gains in Leave-voting areas
In Sunderland, which voted to Leave the EU, Reform claimed 58 of the 75 council seats up for grabs. And in Wigan, Mr Farage’s party won all but one of the 25 seats on offer.
In the Prime Minister’s constituency of Makerfield, 65% voted to leave. Labour also lost control of Barnsley for the first time in the council’s 52-year history. The South Yorkshire town overwhelmingly voted to Leave.
But Mr Burnham has said it would be a “dereliction of duty” not to get a better deal with Brussels, claiming it would boost economic growth and tackle illegal immigration. The Labour leader declared he will use an EU summit next month as a launchpad for restoring ties. He confirmed the two sides are looking at a deal to ease the movement of food and drink across borders, as well as a controversial youth “free movement” scheme. Hinting he wants to go even further, Mr Burnham told MPs there was an “opportunity” to improve ties because the “status quo is not good enough” for Britain.
The Prime Minister also stressed that he wanted the meeting to be the start of a “serious dialogue” about the future relationship.
But Mr Farage told the Express: “The Prime Minister is stuck with a completely outdated view of the world. That somehow Europe is this big, lovely, friendly, cuddly club, and it's all great, we'll all be friends. Well, that was then. Now is very different.
“I'd love to see him sitting down with the AfD. I'd love to see him sitting down with President Le Pen. What kind of Europe does he think it is?
“He seems to be trying to coalesce a vote from Greens and Lib Dems who have this same outdated idea of Europe. Some are genuine globalists. Some don't believe in national countries. Some don't believe in borders.
“But for the majority, it's just a sort of nice, lovely, cuddly idea of what Europe is.
“It's changed, it isn't, it's failing, it's falling behind, and by the way, to join would cost us £42billion a year. £42billion a year would be our gross contribution.”
Mr Burnham has opened the door to rejoining the bloc. But the Reform UK leader warned “it is very different” to the European Union Britain left.
He said: “These bonkers economists saying ‘if we hadn't left the European Union, our GDP would be 6% up, 8%’ … What they're saying is if we hadn't left the single market, we'd be one of the richest countries in the world.
“It's nonsense. We've massively outperformed France, Italy and Germany in terms of growth.
“Ours is nothing to write home about. Our services exports to Europe are up 28% since Brexit. Is it more difficult to buy and sell physical goods?
“Yes, it is, and that deal might – should be made easier. But at the same time, we've done 70 trade agreements around the rest of the world. And he is sticking to a completely outdated view.”
