Burnham's Push for Closer EU Ties Splits Labour and Unsettles Rival Parties Ahead of Brussels Summit

Andy Burnham chose his words for the Cabinet carefully earlier this week. He told ministers he firmly believed the country had ended up with a harder Brexit than people voted for, and that no sensible person thinks the deal the Tories negotiated is working for Britain. The remark has turned a week already given over to Europe into a test of how far his own party will follow him.

The calendar is full. On Thursday, at a gathering of European leaders in Dublin, the prime minister will for the first time meet people who could prove pivotal as he makes the case for Britain's future relationship with the bloc. Next week he will give a foreign policy speech in which Europe is, for Burnham, a central plank. He will then travel to Brussels for a UK-EU summit, where new agreements on food, energy and youth mobility are due to be signed. Of that deal he told ministers the government will take opportunities that make people better off, adding: "There is a significant prize."

That reasoning sits behind his decision to open the door to arguments about rejoining the EU single market, with the freedom of movement it would bring, and even the EU itself. It is this longer-term ambition that is dividing his cabinet and his party.

Some welcome it, including MPs whose constituencies once backed Brexit. Angela Rayner is understood to have pushed former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to be bolder on Brexit since at least autumn 2022. As housing secretary she is said to insist that Labour must keep to its manifesto red lines of no return to the single market, customs union or freedom of movement, while being open-minded about changing them at the next election. Another cabinet minister put it bluntly: the best thing in politics is to tell the truth, and the truth is that Brexit has been hugely damaging. "We are not leading a public conversation here," the minister said, "we are racing to catch up with the public."

Others are watching nervously. One former minister called the strategy "high risk". Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has struck a more cautious tone, warning of the "costs and consequences" of rejoining the EU as well as of staying out. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds supports getting closer and discussing the long-term relationship, but has previously warned against joining the customs union. He is also unsure about rejoining, pointing to the uncertainty over what terms the UK would face and what the bloc might look like in years to come, with nationalist parties in the ascendancy in several European countries.

A voice from the past has its own concerns. Lord Cameron told Bloomberg's Mishal Husain that a conversation about rejoining would be "very long and painful". He warned that "flirting with rejoining" could undermine Burnham's efforts to renegotiate the Conservatives' Brexit deal, because EU countries might conclude Britain will rejoin anyway and see little point in offering a good partnership.

Within Labour, the divisions do not follow predictable lines. One Scottish Labour MP, personally opposed to Brexit and representing a heavily Remain-voting seat, called the approach a "real problem", asking how to argue that the 2014 Scottish referendum settled independence for a generation while the 2016 vote is not settled. Gareth Snell, MP for Stoke-on-Trent, where Leave won 69.4%, told the BBC's Westminster Hour that reopening the debate would monopolise time in parliament and government. So far there is no public rebellion. Two of the most unhappy Labour MPs said there are no plans for organised criticism and described their mindset as "wait and see". That truce is likely to fracture if Burnham's poll lead begins to slide.

The opposition parties are struggling to respond. Kemi Badenoch has made opposition to future alignment with EU rules a red line, saying it would "actually take us backwards". Yet some Conservative MPs fear the issue could again divide Tory voters, just as the party works to win back affluent southern voters who see Burnham's economic offer as too left-wing. One said those voters are only just giving the party a hearing again after Brexit, and will now be reminded of it. Some Liberal Democrats worry that their position as the most pro-European large party could be drowned out. Reform UK says it is "very bullish", with a strategist welcoming an election fought over a £40bn bill to rejoin, open-door immigration and less control over laws and courts.

The next few days, in Dublin, in the foreign policy speech and in Brussels, will show how much Burnham intends to say aloud, and whether his party's patience holds if the polls turn.