A Labour minister has left the door open for Andy Burnham to include a pledge to take the UK back into the European Union in Labour’s next manifesto.
By now, absolutely everyone knows Brexit has been a socio-economic disaster for Britain. The evidence and stats are undeniable and even former Brexiteers admit it’s been a failure.
Since Labour returned to power in 2024, they have made efforts to repair the UK’s relationship with the EU. But during his time as prime minister, Keir Starmer stopped short of saying he would ever look to reverse Brexit.
This was despite senior Labour figures such as Wes Streeting and Sadiq Khan both calling on Labour to take the country back into the EU.
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Manifesto promise could boost support for Labour
Polling has also shown a pledge to reverse Brexit in the next Labour manifesto could significantly boost support for the party.
Andy Burnham’s ascension to Labour leader and prime minister has only given more momentum to these calls, given that it was less than a year ago that the Makerfield MP was saying he wanted to see Brexit reversed in his lifetime.
In recent weeks, Burnham has said he will not look to take Britain back into the EU.
But it sounds like the possibility can’t be entirely ruled out.
Minister doesn’t rule out rejoin pledge
In an interview with Sky News this week, Minister for European relations Hamish Falconer insisted that the government is “not talking about rejoining today”, but added: “What we do in our next manifesto will be a question for the Labour Party.”
Falconer said Burnham would look to “consolidate” the good work Keir Starmer did on EU relations but that the government would “also need to see how we can go further.”
“Even since when we started those talks, the world has changed quite dramatically. The threats have changed quite dramatically – both talking about some of the threats in Eastern Europe, but clearly there are economic security threats, disinformation threats too.”
Falconer was then asked about comments this week from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who told the Independent that rejoining the EU was the “only patriotic thing to do” for Britain.
Addressing these comments, Falconer said: “Look, the questions for the next manifesto are not yet sorted, but I think it’s been absolutely clear from what the prime minister has said, and I share his views on this – we had this vote 10 years ago. It was the will of the country. It was the will of my own constituency as well. We’re not backsliding from that.
“The world has changed since 2016. We need to make sure that our relationship with Europe changes too. Europe and the UK both face real challenges.”