No 10 Clarifies Burnham's Stance on Freedom of Movement After Weekend Interviews Stir EU Speculation

Downing Street spent Monday explaining what its own prime minister had meant. Andy Burnham had said an "honest discussion" was needed about Britain's long-term relationship with Europe, and a series of weekend interviews had left many people reading that as a signal about freedom of movement.

The speculation began with an interview in the Sunday Times. In it, Burnham indicated that staying out of free movement would no longer be a red line in talks about how the UK might move closer to the EU. Further interviews deepened the confusion, because they were read as leaving the door open both to an eventual return to freedom of movement and to another referendum on the question.

A Downing Street spokesperson was left to draw the line. The prime minister, she said, was not proposing a return to freedom of movement, or any other particular option. In her account, he was saying it was time to discuss what kind of long-term relationship with Europe is best for Britain, and he was pointing to the areas such an agreement could cover. She said he was "crucially not leaning either way" and that the decision would rest with the British public. His focus for now, she added, was next month's summit and the practical arrangements the government hopes to agree there, which she said would add billions to the economy.

She did not go further on process. The government, she said, was not yet at the stage of confirming whether the public would be asked to decide on proposals for the UK to move closer to the EU. Pressed on whether Burnham accepted that returning to freedom of movement would mean losing control over legal migration, she said he was not setting out a concrete position either way, only seeking a conversation with the public about the long-term future with the EU.

Burnham himself spoke on Monday. He ruled out rejoining the EU within this parliament, while indicating he could fight a future general election on a promise to take the UK back in. "I'm not going to move away from the red lines that were in the Labour manifesto," he said. Hours later he told journalists "no" when asked whether he would let the UK join the EU freedom of movement scheme without a referendum.

Asked whether he wanted Britain to rejoin, he said that in his lifetime he would like to see it happen, but that he would not move ahead of the public or dictate his own opinions. The British public, he said, must be "the bosses."

He was also challenged over his constituency. In Makerfield, 65% of voters backed leaving the EU. Burnham replied that he had said the referendum would not be rerun and that this was not what he was doing. The people of Makerfield, he said, would decide what happens on Brexit.

He dismissed any prospect of an early election on a changed manifesto. "There is no election coming anytime soon," he told GMB, adding that people might as well put it out of their minds. Yet he left open a later campaign on a pledge to rejoin fully.

Burnham is due in Brussels for the UK-EU summit on 20 November, where he hopes to secure a better deal. He believes the Brexit settlement has weakened the economy and weakened control of immigration, and that it is not good enough for the country. The summit will show how much of the weekend's talk survives contact with practical negotiation.