Prime Minister Andy Burnham has blamed Brexit for the small boats crisis and said he wants to rejoin the EU in his lifetime, while ruling out an early general election.
Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Mr Burnham said he will not "move ahead" of public opinion on EU membership and indicated there is no certainty Labour will propose rejoining in its next general election manifesto.
Brexit and Migration
Mr Burnham said Britain's inability to return migrants to Europe was the reason for the small boats crisis. He said: "I don't think things have worked out as people said they would at the time, particularly when it comes to immigration. I think we've got weaker control now."
He added: "The reason the small boats crisis has arisen is because we can't return people, and people know we can't do that in the same way that we used to be able to do."
The Prime Minister faces pressure to reach an agreement with the EU on migration at a summit next month, which would allow the UK to send failed asylum seekers back to the continent as it did before leaving the bloc.
Rejoining the EU
Mr Burnham said: "I've said I'm going to be honest and say in my lifetime I would like to see that (rejoining the EU) happen, but I am not going to move ahead of the public."
He stated: "We have a decade of experience now looking back at Brexit, and I don't think it has played out as people said it would at the time. We got a harder Brexit than was proposed in the referendum campaign."
He added: "It's weakened our economy. It's also weakened our control of immigration, and that might surprise people, because that was the big issue. But, you know, the small boats crisis has arisen since, and we have a different form of migration now."
However, he said: "I'm not proposing rejoining in this Parliament. We're way away from that at this particular moment in time. What I am saying is we need to take some practical steps to make the arrangement work better than the arrangement we've got right now."
No Snap Election
Asked if he was softening the country to go to the polls, Mr Burnham said: "No, no, I've ruled that out." Pressed by Ms Reid on whether he had absolutely ruled it out, the PM said: "I have. I did that before the Labour conference. Because I just don't think people want another backward-looking squabble."
On the upcoming Budget, Mr Burnham said he had asked Chancellor John Healey to look at the standing charge on gas bills to "see if there's something that we can do there". He said: "What we've got to do is be relentless, I think, around energy bills, and look at every way that we can to get them down."
Pressed on whether there would be welfare cuts, he said: "Social security is about the resilience of our communities and the strength of our localities. If you have a situation where you have a million young people not in education, employment, or training, that doesn't strengthen national resilience and national security. What you need to do is do something to get them on the right path, get them that opportunity."
