Burnham Calls for Debate on UK’s Long Term Relationship with the European Union

At the end of his one hour speech to the Labour Party Conference in 29 September, Andy Burnham looked at UK relations with the European Union.   He mentioned  the next EU-UK Reset Summit and some of the policy areas to be discussed.  These include immigration and “how we can best work together.”  In addition, he wants to “work to secure gains for our British industries most harmed by Brexit.” This process began in the May 2025 Reset Summit with the agreement to improve access to EU markets for ethe UK food industry but Burnham wants to go cement a more permanent relationship with the EU. He went on to argue that “We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of this century until we decide on a long term relationship with what is still our largest market.” Burnham was blunt and said that “Brexit has done more harm than good.”

The UK now needs to establish a long term relationship with the EU and Burnham wants the key options in the type of relationship.  This would be done by the next EU-UK Reset Summit.  A date still has to be set for this meeting but there have been rumours of a date in late November; 20th. November being the most likely date.

In his speech and subsequent interviews, Burnham did not set out these options but they are likely to be:

• Stick to the Reset as set out in the Labour Manifesto.  The problem is that the ‘red lines’ set out on the Manifesto are highly restrictive and have hampered current discussions between the EU and the UK.
• Join the Customs Union.  The original six Members of the European Economic Community agreed a Customs Union in 1967 and so it was operational when the UK joined in 1973. However, recent research suggests that the economic gains maybe limited and as little as 0.4% of GDP.
• Join the Single Market.  The creation of the Single Market was a major aim of the European Union in the late 1980s and it had a target date of 1992.  Although, the European Union had largely removed tariff barriers by the late 1980s, many non-tariff  barriers remained and the aim of the Single Market legislation was to remove them.   The legislation was developed when Jacques Delors was President of the European Union and the UK Commissioner, Lord Arthur Cockfield, was Internal Market Commissioner.  The moves towards a Single Market were strongly supported by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
• Rejoin the European Union.  Although, the UK only recently left the European Union, there have been significant legislative changes in both jurisdictions.  These changes have led to difficult detailed discussions  resulting from the outline agreement in the first EU-UK Reset Summit.  When the UK left the EU it had negotiated an annual rebate in its membership of the EI and was not part of the Schengen Agreement and the single currency.  It is unlikely that the UK government would be allowed to enjoy these exemptions if it rejoined the EU.
• Negotiate Associate Membership.  This debate has developed due to the Canadian Government’s wish to develop closer ties with the EU.  The term does not exist in the EU’s legal lexicon but it has been floated by Ursula van der Leyen, the European Commission President.  However, the idea of a Mult-speed Europe, or a Europe of Concentric Circles, has been floated in the past and was a topical area of discussion during the Treaty changes of the 1980s and 1990s.  It’s time might have arrived!

There does seem many options to discuss and, of course, they are not mutually exclusive so that one option such as Customs Union Membership could be a staging post for another step.  Prime Minister Burnham said that he wanted options set oy before the next Summit which is likely to be the end of November,  A number of newspapers have said that Burnham’s comments have caught the Civil Service off guard, so even setting out the options by November may be difficult.