Key facts
- Burnham said the Conservatives gave Britain a harsher Brexit than voters expected in 2016 and burned bridges with the EU.
- Burnham said a food and farming deal with the EU would get food prices down and put more money in exporters' pockets.
- Burnham said he would explore options for a different long-term relationship with Brussels.
- Burnham reiterated Labour's manifesto red lines ruling out a return to the customs union, single market or free movement.
- Michel Barnier told the BBC the four freedoms are conditions for single market membership and there is no cherrypicking.
- Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa will meet Burnham in Brussels on November 20.
Andy Burnham said the UK has "lost more than we gained" since leaving the EU, speaking at the Welsh Labour conference on Saturday, November 14, 2026. The prime minister accused the Conservative party of having "burned all our bridges" with the bloc after the 2016 referendum and said the Conservatives gave Britain a harsher Brexit than voters expected.
Burnham said he will head to the next UK-EU summit in a few days to seek a new deal on food and farming, which he said would "get food prices down" and help Welsh farmers, shellfish and lamb exporters. He said the agreements he hopes to secure could raise GDP by 0.4%, about £17 billion, covering food and farming, emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme, and that he would "explore options" for a different long-term relationship with Brussels.
Burnham has recently said he is open to rejoining the single market, customs union or the EU, but on Saturday he said voters would be "the boss" of any changes and reiterated Labour's manifesto red lines ruling out a return to the customs union, single market or free movement.
The government has already made several announcements tying the UK closer to Brussels. The Guardian reported earlier in November that the UK was prepared to spend up to £450 million a year to give EU students discounted university tuition fees if Brussels allowed Britain access to the Made in Europe industrial program. Hamish Falconer, the cabinet minister in charge of EU talks, said the UK was willing to discuss paying toward infrastructure schemes in poorer parts of the EU in return for access to the European electricity market.
Senior figures in Brussels have said they want the UK to begin paying for access to European schemes. Michel Barnier, the EU's former Brexit negotiator, 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 a single market." He added that the UK could not rejoin the single market "à la carte" and that there is no cherrypicking.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and António Costa, who leads the European Council, will meet Burnham on November 20 in Brussels for a summit where deals on food and drink, carbon emissions and youth exchange could be signed.