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British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will set out “different options” for the UK’s future relations with the European Union ahead of a planned UK-EU summit later this year.
Speaking at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Burnham told the audience that Brexit had “done more harm than good” and that the UK needed a clear strategy on its long-term relationship with the EU.
The country’s divisive 2016 vote to leave the EU has once again been thrust under the spotlight this year amid mounting calls from leading Labour figures for Britain to re-enter the bloc.
Burnham has also previously said he was in favour of rejoining – although he toned down such statements as he campaigned for the Makerfield by-election in May. The prime minister has nevertheless sought to establish increasingly close relations with Brussels since he took office in late July.
“We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of this century until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market,” he said on Tuesday to applause from the crowd.
“We need to restore a higher level of growth and prosperity for Britain,” he continued, adding that he would “take the opportunity around the summit to lay out to you, to lay out to the country, what I believe the different options are for Britain’s long-term relationship with our European partners.”
“There are different options, and I will see if we can find consensus around one, which will give us clarity about our position and the future of the continent that we live in,” he went on. “I cannot say to you truthfully that where we are is good enough”.
Britain’s right has pushed back at the prospect of reopening the Brexit debate.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has warned that Labour was risking “restarting the Brexit wars,” while the hard-right Reform UK party’s Richard Tice, the MP for Boston and Skegness, has billed it as “a new Battle of Britain.”
And whilst the thought of rejoining the EU would appeal to many in the Labour Party, it would still likely invite some internal opposition, with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds recently warning against revisiting the debate on membership.
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