Andy Burnham addressed the House of Commons on Monday (Alamy)
3 min read12 October
The Prime Minister has said that Britain must be open to closer ties with the European Union and that “sticking with the status quo is not good enough”.
Andy Burnham told the Commons on Monday: “If we are serious about promoting growth, controlling immigration, upholding our values and security, it is a conversation we must have.”
He also told MPs that “it would be a major dereliction of duty to turn away” from a discussion about the UK’s longer-term relationship with the EU.
The PM announced that the EU-UK summit would take place in Brussels on 20 November. Burnham said that the “immediate priority is securing a successful outcome at the summit”, where the UK will hope to strike deals including on trade and get a better deal for UK farmers.
“We need to take a calm, clear-eyed, rational look at the world as it is today to consider what is best for our country. Our immediate priority is securing a successful outcome at the summit, and I believe we should then set up a serious dialogue about the different options for our relationship in the long term.”
“At every stage, the British public will be the boss, and I am clear that public opinion currently supports a pragmatic approach like the one I am suggesting, but if we go into this further phase, we will proceed with care and complete transparency.”
It comes after Burnham opened the door to rejoining the EU during his speech to Labour conference in Liverpool last month.
On Monday, Burnham said that this was the leadership needed “to draw a line on a decade of drift and division, and take the country forward beyond Europe.”
Earlier on Monday, Downing Street was forced to clarify that Burnham does not think Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum affected the result, after he claimed that upon entering Downing Street he was told that Russia had interfered with the Brexit vote.
Turning to the alleged terror plot at RAF Fairford last month, Burnham told the Commons that the government had confirmed that “it is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.”
“We will not tolerate these threats on our soil. We will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams.
“And we will bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to do us harm.”
On Ukraine, Burnham called for an energy ceasefire “with both sides stopping their attacks”, after President Trump’s announcement on Sunday.
Burnham said: “President Zelenskyy has assured me Ukraine would immediately implement it when a start date is confirmed, and I will be discussing this further with him in the coming days.”