The U.K.-EU summit mentioned by the prime minister was originally scheduled for July but was postponed after the change in U.K. premiership.
Yet Brussels and London are yet to name a new date for the meeting amid wrangling over the EU’s protectionist Made in Europe measures and the vexed question of tuition fees for EU students studying in Britain.
“We do have concerns about Made in Europe, which is something that could affect British industry and British supply chains,” Burnham said, adding that he would discuss the matter when he met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the U.N. on Tuesday.
“I will, in a constructive spirit, put on the table some of our concerns towards those things, at the same time as working towards what we hope will be a successful EU-U.K. summit later this year,” he said.
Burnham told reporters on the plane that Brexit would be part of his speech at the U.N. General Assembly. He hinted that he would link it to other global challenges.
“What we’ve experienced is when that turbulence comes, when outside actors seek to manipulate, to distort facts, influence the British democratic process — going into the next decade we need to be clear-eyed about that and become stronger and more on the front foot about challenging that,” he said.
“Perhaps Britain can say we have experienced some of the turbulence before others in terms of the politics of recent times. We need to be clearer where outside forces, our enemies, are trying to manipulate that opinion and feeling to serve their interests, not ours.”