Nigel Farage has vowed to fight and defeat Andy Burnham's plan to reverse Brexit, telling the Prime Minister he cannot betray the biggest vote in British political history without giving the public a say. Speaking exclusively to the Express, the Reform UK leader said he was ready to win the Brexit war a second time.
Farage's warning to Burnham
Mr Farage said: "Let me tell you, I dedicated 27 years of my life, I nearly became the patron saint of lost causes backing this in the 90s and the noughties and all the way up – because I have always believed we should be an independent country."
He added: "We should be in control, not a bunch of old men in Brussels that we cannot vote for and can't remove. I think you can probably see from my reaction, if this fight comes again, well, someone, please hold my jacket."
He warned Mr Burnham: "Don't sign up to anything unless you give us a general election on this, you cannot betray the biggest vote in British political history ... without giving us a say."
Burnham's position on EU membership
Asked this morning if the UK should rejoin 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 happen, but I am not going to move ahead of the public.
"I am not going to dictate in terms of my own opinions here – you have to make sure that the British public are the bosses."
The Prime Minister also suggested over the weekend that the UK could bring back freedom of movement with EU countries. However, he stressed that he remained bound by Labour's 2024 election manifesto, which ruled this out, meaning that no significant change could be introduced without a fresh general election.
Farage's response to Burnham's claims
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Express, Mr Farage said Mr Burnham "seems to be very out of date with his thinking, and he is now claiming that as members of the EU, controlling immigration was easier. Well, number one, it meant free movement for 450million people to come to Britain, and number two, illegal immigration ... that meant they sent us more than we sent them".
"All of this 'isn't Europe wonderful?'," he said, was "based on something which is fundamentally untrue and wrong".
"But there is a bigger point, and the Express led this in many, many ways. We voted to leave the European Union. Everyone promised they'd honour it."
His message to Express readers was: "Express newspapers coming out in support of me in 2013-14 in support of us leaving the EU was absolutely crucial in the whole history of this. When people look back in 100 years and see me working with the Express, suddenly it's a very, very powerful combination, and it went all the way through.
"But in the end it was the Brexit Party that got rid of Theresa May, that made Boris PM, but unfortunately it has not been delivered anything like the way we thought it would be.
"Mass migration into Britain was a choice that Boris Johnson's government made. It was not what Express readers wanted, and it is not what I wanted."
