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British Prime Minister Andy Burnham declined to rule out including a pledge to rejoin the European Union in Labour’s next election manifesto, according to UK media reports.
Burnham, who has been in office since late July, made the comments to reporters as he was travelling to New York for the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Asked whether he could rule out such a promise in a manifesto, Burnham was quoted as saying questions about rejoining the bloc were “for another day” and that his current focus remained a long-awaited UK/EU summit – which is expected to take place at some point later this year.
“My immediate priority is to build on the good work that Keir did in rebuilding bridges,” he continued, referencing former PM Keir Starmer and his “Brexit reset” efforts. “Because those bridges were broken in the early part of this decade. And Keir did a good job in re-establishing that relationship”.
“What we have got to do now is go to the next level in terms of reaching practical agreement that will further boost the British economy, and those issues are the substance of the summit alongside EU requests around youth mobility,” he added.
Burnham, who is due to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, has previously called for the UK to rejoin the EU – although he toned down such statements as he campaigned for the Makerfield by-election in May.
“My view is that Brexit has been damaging,” he said at the time. “But I also believe the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments”.
Since entering Downing Street, however, he has repeatedly signalled his intentions to deepen ties with Brussels.
Speaking to media last week from No10 North, where he met with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Burnham said his government was “looking forward” to the UK-EU summit and that it was “wanting to take further steps to deepen the relationship with Europe.”
In August, he also stressed that Britain must be “bolder” in seeking to rebuild relations with the EU.
The divisive nature of the 2016 Brexit vote has proved tricky to shake off for many in the UK, and the debate has once more been thrust under the spotlight this year.
Following damaging local election results for Labour in May, senior party figures, including now-Defence Secretary Wes Streeting, pointed to the impact of Brexit on the UK as they positioned themselves ahead of what appeared an increasingly likely leadership contest.
Speaking at the time, Streeting called the decision to leave a “catastrophic mistake” and argued that it had left the country “less wealthy, less powerful and less in control than at any point before the industrial revolution.”
Britain’s right has pushed back at the idea of revisiting Brexit. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has warned that Labour was risking “restarting the Brexit wars,” while the hard-right Reform UK party’s Richard Tice, the MP for Boston and Skegness, has billed it as “a new Battle of Britain.”