Barnier tells BBC UK cannot cherry pick EU single market terms

• Barnier said any single market participation would require the UK to accept the four freedoms, including free movement of people.
• Barnier said a new British budget rebate would be off the table.
• Barnier said the door is open to the UK rejoining the EU as a full member.
• Barnier compared Reform leader Nigel Farage to Marine Le Pen, citing the same populism and false promises.
• Farage said Barnier was arrogant, out of touch and a bully.

Michel Barnier, the EU's former Brexit negotiator, told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that the UK cannot rejoin the EU single market on an à la carte basis, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he wanted to explore closer economic ties with Europe.

Barnier said EU members would insist that any single market participation require the UK to readopt conditions including the free movement of people. He said there could be no cherry picking of the conditions for participation, echoing a line from the UK's exit negotiations.

Barnier, who led talks over the UK's exit between 2016 and 2021 and had a three-month spell as French prime minister in 2024, said the door is open within Europe to the UK rejoining as an EU member. He said any move to rejoin the single market would require the UK to follow the same terms as other members, including compliance with regulations covering goods, services, capital and people, known within EU institutions as the four freedoms.

He warned against a single market à la carte, saying: "There will be no possibility to have one freedom and not the other. The four freedoms are clearly the four conditions to be inside a single market." He also predicted EU countries would reject recreating the British financial rebate first negotiated in 1985, saying a new rebate would be off the table.

Burnham has said rejoining the EU's internal market is among options he could pursue to reshape the UK's long-term relationship with the bloc. Since becoming prime minister in July, he has suggested he could commit Labour to pursuing a much closer future relationship with Europe, including asking to rejoin the organisation as a full member, though he has ruled out major changes before the next election. He has said he would not re-establish free movement without a referendum, prompting Downing Street to clarify that he was not advocating its return at this point.

Both sides are hoping to use a summit in Brussels in 10 days' time to unveil deals on food standards, youth visas and re-linking British industry to the EU's carbon trading regime.

Barnier also compared Reform leader Nigel Farage to French politician Marine Le Pen, saying: "We have our own Farage. It is Mrs Le Pen. The same populism, the same lies, the same false promises." Asked to clarify, Barnier said the £350 million a week figure used during the Brexit campaign was not true and was a lie. Farage, who led Leave UK and was not part of the Vote Leave campaign, said: "It is the same old Barnier - arrogant, out of touch and a bully. He vindicates our decision to leave every time he opens his mouth."