Burnham to Lay Out UK’s Next Steps on EU Around Time of Summit

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will set out proposals for the next stage of the UK’s rapprochement with the European Union around the time of next month’s summit with the bloc.

Burnham in recent weeks has re-opened the debate on Britain’s divisive divorce from the EU, telling the Labour Party conference last month that “Brexit has done more harm than good” and promising to seek consensus on a new relationship. He’s since said options could include rejoining the EU’s single market, its customs union, or the bloc itself.

Burnham is due to meet with his EU counterparts in Brussels on Nov. 20, with topics up for negotiation including youth mobility, the trade in food and drink and the bloc’s Made in Europe drive. He’ll use that moment to expand on his thinking around the future relationship, according to his spokeswoman.

“Around the time of the summit, the prime minister will set out the next steps when it comes to our longer-term relationship,” the spokeswoman, Cat Simmons, told reporters in London on Tuesday. “The summit can lead to some important concrete steps, but as the prime minister has made clear in the last couple of days, they are clearly not enough.”

Simmons said there would be no return to EU principles of free movement in the current Parliament, which is due to run until mid-August 2029. Labour in its election manifesto in 2024 pledged that “there will be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement” during the current Parliament.