Barnier: UK cannot 'cherry pick' single market terms as Burnham explores closer EU ties

Michel Barnier, the man who led the EU's side of the Brexit negotiations, has a message for Britain's new prime minister: there is no menu to order from. Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said the UK cannot "cherry pick" the parts of the single market it likes, and that EU members would reject any attempt to follow its rules "a la carte".

The warning follows Andy Burnham's statement that he wants to explore closer economic ties with Europe. Burnham, who became prime minister in July, has said that rejoining the single market is among the options he could pursue as the UK reshapes its relationship with the bloc, nearly six years after leaving. He has suggested he could commit Labour to a much closer future with Europe, including asking to rejoin as a full member, though he has ruled out major changes before the next election.

Barnier, who led the EU delegation in the Brexit talks between 2016 and 2021 and spent three months as French prime minister in 2024, said the "door is open" within Europe to the UK returning as a member. But he was firm about the terms for the single market, which lets goods trade freely without border controls. Access would mean accepting the same conditions as everyone else, including the "four freedoms": the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. In his words, there will be no possibility of having one freedom and not the other.

Free movement of people is the politically hardest of the four. It lets EU citizens live and work elsewhere in the bloc without a visa, and it was a central issue in the 2016 referendum. Sir Keir Starmer, Burnham's predecessor, ruled out restoring it in Labour's 2024 manifesto. Any move to advocate it again would become a key dividing line with the Conservatives and Reform UK at a future election. Burnham recently said in an interview that he would not bring back free movement without a referendum, which led Downing Street to clarify that he is not advocating its return at this point.

Barnier also dealt with money. He predicted EU countries would refuse to reinstate the British rebate, first negotiated in 1985, which reduced the UK's contributions to the EU's annual budget while it was a member. Britain's departure, he said, had created "a new situation", leaving a new rebate "off the table".

The interview turned sharper when Barnier compared Reform leader Nigel Farage to Marine Le Pen. "We have our own Farage. It is Mrs Le Pen," he said, citing "the same populism, the same lies, the same false promises." Pressed by Kuenssberg on what he meant by lies, he pointed to the promise to bring back £350 million a week to the UK, which he said was not possible and "was a lie".

The claim has a long history. It appeared on the Vote Leave campaign bus, alongside the line "Let's fund our NHS instead". Boris Johnson, a key figure in that campaign, said in 2017 that once accounts were settled the UK would take back roughly £350m a week. Critics say it was a gross figure that ignored the UK's £75m-a-week rebate and EU investment in Britain. Johnson has defended it, arguing it was actually an underestimate because contributions were set to rise, and in his 2024 memoirs wrote that even a net figure of £175m was "a hell of a lot of money". Farage led Leave UK, not Vote Leave, so was not connected to the bus claim. He answered Barnier by calling him "arrogant, out of touch and a bully" who vindicates the decision to leave "every time he opens his mouth".

The practical test comes soon. In ten days, both sides hope to use a meeting in Brussels to unveil deals on food standards, youth visas and re-linking British industry to the EU's carbon trading regime. Burnham has said he wants to set out "different options" for the relationship there, before seeking a consensus with the British public.