Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has warned Andy Burnham against pursuing a Norway-style relationship with the European Union, cautioning that the UK would become a rule-taker without full membership.
Speaking to Politico, Støre said that after Brexit, British friends asked him about the Norwegian model. He replied: "If you left the EU because there was too much Brussels, don’t take the Norwegian version. Because here, you know, basically we are taking most of their decisions, we implement them."
Burnham's EU Ambitions
Burnham, who has said he wants Britain to rejoin the EU in his lifetime, is exploring options for the long-term relationship with the bloc. However, any major change would have to wait until after the next general election, as he has committed to Labour's 2024 red lines of not rejoining the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement.
Speaking to the Mirror over the weekend, Burnham said: "It pays to have a good relationship with your neighbours, and the practical deals we are agreeing with Europe will pay off for families across the UK." He added that cutting red tape on food imports and exports would ease pressure on supermarket prices and help farmers and food producers.
Summit and EU Response
The Prime Minister is due to sign a series of deals with the EU later this month at a joint summit in Brussels. Burnham said the summit "will show what we can achieve when we work together, but it doesn’t need to be the end of our ambition."
However, Michel Barnier, the EU's former chief Brexit negotiator, has insisted there would be "no cherry-picking." Referring to the four freedoms of goods, movement of people, services, and capital, he told the BBC: "There will be no possibility to have one freedom and not the other. The four freedoms are clearly the four conditions to be inside the single market."
