Labour MPs tell Burnham to show ‘ambition’ and move closer to EU

Labour MPs Anneliese Dodds and Andrew Lewin have urged Andy Burnham to set out a bolder relationship with the EU.

Speaking at a British Future fringe event at Labour conference, the pair were asked what the prime minister should say and do with regard to UK-EU relations.

Dodds, a former cabinet minister and chair of the Labour Party, said she wanted Burnham to be “very straight about things”. “I think the top line is the most important one, and the top line has got to be: we must have high ambition”, she said.

She said she wanted the prime minister to tell voters: “We’ve escaped lots of things, but we can’t escape geography.”

Dodds argued that the UK should not approach potential negotiations as a supplicant. “I don’t want us to just be saying if we’re not part of this, that’s going to damage Britain, because that puts us in the position of being a demander, which is not what we are on these questions”, she said. “We need to talk about solutions, not deals.”

Dodds also said she did not want Burnham “snarled up” in the detail of what a future relationship would look like.

She added: “If we see UK not able to participate in those economic security measures by the EU, it’s going to be just as damaging for them as it is for us, and I want him to be making that argument. And I think he’s very well pleased to do it. Actually, as a very straight talker.”

Lewin said Brexit had been “a failure on the terms that it set itself”, noting immigration had been a driver for many who voted Leave and the lack of a special trade deal with the US. 

Lewin said: “Ultimately, I want to rejoin the European Union, but importantly, I don’t think now is the time.”

He warned that opening the debate on rejoining now would “dominate politics again in a way that it did 10 years ago.”

Lewin set out a sequence that he said would respect Labour’s manifesto red lines while showing progress on moving closer to the EU. 

He emphasised the significance of an agreement on youth mobility, saying it is “not good” that negotiations haven’t been concluded. 

The Labour MP added: “I believe it’s important on its own terms because youth mobility is a pro-growth measure – it’s a pro-opportunity measure for young people who’ve lost opportunities as a result of Brexit. 

“But it’s also a test of can we work together, and I think for this to fail and this not to get over the line, then on the EU side, you say ‘why should we believe further promises about single market or customs union if you can’t agree on this sort of more limited program?’ 

“So that is essential. I really hope that happens by the end of this calendar year, and I think that should be our first priority.”

He added: “I think there has been some tension, perhaps with the Home Office saying ‘we’re quite squeamish about numbers’…

“Unless we’re willing to say the fundamental principle of youth mobility from our closest allies in the EU is a good thing, then we won’t be in a position to win the bigger arguments that might be to come.”

Lewin further argued that respecting the red lines set out in the manifesto should not preclude “opening a conversation now about the single market and the customs union, with a view to putting it to the country in a couple of years.” 

At a future summit, Lewin suggested, the prime minister could indicate his openness to “begin conversations about what single market and customs union membership would look like in the future.”

Asked whether he would put rejoining in a manifesto, he answered: “In my lifetime, but not for the next manifesto. I think single market and customs union and build up.”

Lewin also commented on the pace of negotiations since Burnham became prime minister, noting the UK-EU summit planned for July was postponed with no new date set.

He said: “I think the worst five months since we were elected [in 2024] in terms of making progress has been the last five months when we changed the prime minister, and we’ve lost a summit that was locked in…

“Although there has been some very welcome rhetoric from the new prime minister, we’ve actually stalled, and that’s why it’s especially important we fix the date for the summit.”