Labour’s 2024 election manifesto pledged “no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement” — the so-called “red lines” which have limited the government’s room for maneuver in negotiations with Brussels.
While Burnham, like Keir Starmer before him, says he wants to get closer to the EU, he has so far been careful not to unpick these main tenets of the Brexit settlement put in place by Boris Johnson.
Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect union, which brought the motion to the congress, said unions had “sent a clear message to the government.”
Unions have “seen the damage of Brexit first-hand,” he said, adding: “Keir Starmer’s ‘red lines’ placed unnecessary constraints on EU talks, which made a good deal for Britain harder to obtain.
“The new prime minister should chart his own course on Europe, reject the overtures from Team Trump to dump consumer, worker, and environmental protections, and explore all avenues to increase cooperation on trade, defence and other key issues including through closer integration with the single market.”
Burnham said at the start of this month that he wanted to reach a new Brexit deal which would “add percentage points to our growth.”