Andy Burnham has said he is open to reversing Brexit, insisting he could go “all the way” in proposing to rejoin the European Union.
The prime minister, who has blamed Brexit for a decade of drift and division, declared it was “not good enough” simply to leave the issue “hanging”.
Asked whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc, he told the BBC’s Today programme he wanted to look at the “pros and cons” of all options regarding the UK’s future relationship with Brussels.
One of the options was to “go all the way” and resume full membership.
Mr Burnham said another possibility was to back the call by former Tory Chancellor George Osborne to rejoin the EU Customs Union - a call made by Osborne on an interview with The Independent earlier this month.
“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay,” he told the programme.
“We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market or we could go all the way.”
Mr Osborne told The Independent that Brexit “has been a mess” and that while returning to the EU would be difficult, rejoining the customs union would help alleviate some of the pressure on the UK economy.
In his first Labour Party conference speech as leader, the prime minister said Britain’s decision to leave the EU had done “more harm than good” and promised to set out the options to the country around the time of a UK-EU summit later this year.
Labour’s election manifesto in 2024 ruled out joining a customs union, going back into the single market or allowing the return of freedom of movement with the EU.
But Mr Burnham has indicated he is prepared to recommend going beyond those red lines in future.
“There are clearly options that need to be considered, and we have to look at what is doable and what would be the pros and cons of each,” he told the BBC.
His latest statement is the furthest he has gone yet since entering No 10 in raising the possibility of a complete reversal in the historic decision to leave the EU a decade ago.
It would mean going back on the 2016 EU referendum - and could lead to a second referendum on the matter.
Mr Burnham’s move was immediately criticised by the Conservatives who accused him of trying to “reopen old wounds by restarting the battles of the Brexit years.”
Former Tory cabinet minister Michael Gove, who led the campaign to leave the EU alongside former PM Boris Johnson, said going back on Brexit would “drive frustration” among the public with British politicians because it would mean returning power over key policy decisions to Brussels.
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Giving an extraordinary first Labour conference speech as prime minister, a tearful Mr Burnham also vowed to deliver a “new Britain” with plans to scrap the pensions triple lock, build a new social care service and overhaul the voting system.
He pledged to end the “wrong direction” of the country since Margaret Thatcher’s reforms of the 1980s, which he said had delivered deindustrialisation, deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit, resulting in a “country run for vested interests, not in the public interest”.
He also promised to bring water, housing and energy into public ownership and confirmed his plans for a free national social care service on a par with the NHS, to be funded with changes to the triple lock guarantee on pensions.
Speaking about Britain’s relationship with the EU, he said: ““Brexit hasn’t given us control. We’ve lost some of the control we had over our economy, as a decade of low growth has put us in a weaker position. And we’ve lost some of our control over immigration”.
Mr Burnham said he would set out “options” on UK-EU relations later this year, telling members that Britain must decide on its “long-term relationship” with the bloc.
His comments follow a series of opinion polls on the issue in the last 12 months which suggest voters believe Brexit has not worked and that a second referendum could result in a vote to rejoin.
The Independent has led the campaign for Britain to rebuild its relationship with Brussels on the basis of clear evidence that it has damaged the economy and failed to deliver promised benefits on a wide range of issues including immigration.
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