Andy Burnham says the UK could ‘go all the way’ and rejoin the EU…

From the Guardian:

Andy Burnham has opened the door to the UK rejoining the EU, saying Britain could “go all the way”, as he prepares to reconsider Labour’s post-Brexit red lines.

The prime minister used a series of interviews after his emotional Labour conference speech to spell out how wide-ranging his consideration of Britain’s future with Brussels could be because Brexit had caused “more harm than good”.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, shakes Andy Burnham’s hand as they pose for photographers in front of the EU and UK flags
Andy Burnham wants to review the UK’s relationship with the EU. What are the options?

Burnham said the government could keep the current arrangements, seek a customs union, return to the single market or “go all the way” in what would be full EU membership. Speaking to the BBC, he said ministers would examine “what is doable” and the “pros and cons” of each option.

Asked whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc, the prime minister told Radio 4’s Today programme he wanted to “look at the options”. He added: “We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay. We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market or we could go all the way.”

It is a significant shift from the position Labour fought the 2024 election on. Its manifesto explicitly ruled out returning to the EU single market or customs union, as well as restoring freedom of movement.

Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster for the UK. Analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) alongside independent economic studies from institutions like the Centre for European Reform (CER) and NBER show that Brexit has reduced overall UK GDP by an estimated 4% to 8% compared to a scenario where the country remained. Uncertainty and new regulatory barriers have hit business confidence. UK business investment stagnated following the 2016 vote, sitting roughly 12% to 18% lower than comparative G7 economies.

Leaving the Single Market added extensive paperwork, customs checks, and regulatory hurdles. The CER estimates that UK goods exports to the EU are approximately 16% lower than if Britain had stayed inside. Small and medium-sized businesses, the lifeblood of the economy, have borne the brunt of these costs, with many forced to abandon European supply chains altogether.

The upshot of all this is a smaller economy means lower tax yields for the Treasury. The bill for lost growth means tens of billions fewer in tax revenue each year.

The UK’s public finances are in their most perilous state in decades, driven by a national debt that has swelled to nearly £3 trillion and currently sits at around 95% of GDP, levels not consistently seen since the early 1960s. This massive debt burden, paired with higher interest rates and index-linked government bonds, has pushed annual debt servicing costs past £100 billion. Unproductively, the Treasury now spends more each year simply paying interest on past borrowing than it spends on major public service budgets like education or transport, leaving the state in a persistent structural deficit where day-to-day revenue routinely fails to cover expenditure.

At the same time, the government faces an unprecedented squeeze from both ends of the fiscal spectrum, as a record-high tax burden, reaching levels not seen in 70 years, still fails to meet the rising costs of public services. A stagnant decade of low productivity growth, combined with an ageing population that demands ever-increasing expenditure on health, social care, and state pensions, has severely restricted room for public investment. With local councils warning of bankruptcy and core infrastructure under severe strain, policymakers are trapped between the politically toxic choices of imposing further spending cuts, raising taxes even higher, or continuing to borrow at unsustainable rates.

On a related note Andy Burnham’s speech yesterday was very good. The main thing he has going for him is that he talks like an actual human, not like the ChatGPT in human form that was Kier Starmer. Never underestimate the importance of likeability in politics.

Brian O'Neill

Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.