Key facts
- Burnham told ministers the UK ended up with a harder Brexit than people voted for, per the report.
- Burnham is due to meet European leaders in Dublin on November 19, the report said.
- Burnham plans a foreign policy speech and a Brussels UK-EU summit to sign food, energy and youth mobility deals.
- Housing secretary Angela Rayner is said to back Labour's manifesto red lines but is open to changing them at the next election.
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood warned about the costs and consequences of rejoining the EU as well as staying out.
- Lord Cameron told Bloomberg's Mishal Husain that flirting with rejoining could yield a worse partnership deal.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham told his Cabinet earlier in the week of November 9 that Britain had ended up with a harder Brexit than people voted for, and that no sensible person thinks the deal negotiated by the Conservatives is working, according to the report.
His remarks precede a week centered on the UK's relationship with the EU. Burnham is due to meet European leaders at a gathering in Dublin on November 19, the first time he will meet figures the report describes as pivotal to his vision. He is then due to deliver a foreign policy speech in which Europe is a central plank, before traveling to Brussels for a UK-EU summit to sign new agreements on food, energy and youth mobility. Burnham told ministers the deals would take opportunities that make people in the country better off and that there is a significant prize.
The report says Burnham has opened the door to the argument about rejoining the EU single market, with the freedom of movement that would bring, and even the EU itself. That longer term ambition is dividing his cabinet and party. Housing secretary Angela Rayner is understood to have pushed former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to be bolder on Brexit since at least autumn 2022, and is said to insist Labour stick to its manifesto red lines against the single market, customs union and freedom of movement while being open minded to changing them at the next election.
One cabinet minister told the report that Brexit has been hugely damaging to Britain and that the party is racing to catch up with the public. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has struck a more cautious tone, warning about the costs and consequences of rejoining the EU as well as staying out. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds supports closer ties and discussion of the long term relationship but has warned against joining the customs union and is unsure about rejoining, citing uncertainty over terms and the bloc's future.
Lord Cameron told Bloomberg's Mishal Husain that starting a conversation about rejoining would be very long and painful and could harm Burnham's attempts to renegotiate the Conservative Brexit deal. A Scottish Labour MP opposed to Brexit said the issue was a real problem for arguing that the 2016 referendum is not settled. Labour MP Gareth Snell told the BBC's Westminster Hour that reopening the debate would monopolise time in parliament and government; the report says the Leave vote in his Stoke-on-Trent seat was 69.4%. Two Labour MPs among those most unhappy with Burnham's openness said there are no plans for organized criticism and described their mindset as wait and see.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said aligning with EU rules into the future would be a red line and actually take the country backwards, and has pledged a future Conservative government would withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights. Some Conservative MPs voiced unease about the dilemma the issue presents for their party. Some Liberal Democrats fear their pro-European position risks being drowned out. A Reform UK strategist said the party is very bullish about Brexit returning to debate and would welcome an election fight over a £40bn rejoin bill, open door immigration and less control over laws and courts.