Sky News came to a halt on Monday as politics presenter Sophy Ridge called on former Labour leader Lord Kinnock. After the journalist asked if Prime Minister Andy Burnham should push for the UK to re-join the EU in the party's next manifesto, Kinnock replied: "I think that would be a good approach."
"The reality is that for as long as we're outside the single market of 450 million consumers with the opportunity that it has always established for inward investment and the customs union…," the former MP began.
Kinnock's vision for closer EU ties
"For as long as we are outside those arrangements, and the political symbiosis that's possible in the European Union, we will have difficulty hitting the kind of sustained annual growth targets that are vital for the health of our economy and the financing of public services," Lord Kinnock added.
"I very much hope that the process started by Keir [Starmer] of developing a closer relationship of realignment and trust, which is absolutely fundamental, will not just continue, but be accelerated and intensified via commitment in the next manifesto. I know Andy's personal disposition is strongly in favour of that closer relationship," he remarked.
Economist warns against rejoining
While the new PM and his Labour government may be interested in re-joining the UK, economist and journalist Liam Halligan has warned against the decision. "I don't accept that going through the absolute trauma of trying to rejoin the European Union is going to help us economically in any way at all," he said. "I think it will hinder us, because it will just ensnare us in ever more regulation, which is the opposite of what we need."
Instead, Halligan suggests that the UK is "miles away from taking advantage of the freedoms that Brexit gives us – absolutely miles away." "There's a consensus that leaving the European Union has been bad for our economy," he noted. "I absolutely don't accept that."
