Burnham insists 'no confusion at all' over his Brexit position

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has insisted there is "no confusion" over his position on the European Union, as he defended his approach to improving the UK's current deal with the bloc ahead of a summit in Brussels next month. The prime minister said it was his "responsibility" to improve the deal, which was ratified in 2020, at the summit in Brussels. He denied he had shifted his stance since the Makerfield by-election, when he promised not to "re-run" the Brexit debate. Earlier this week, he suggested he could call a referendum on the UK returning to EU freedom of movement, before No 10 appeared to backtrack. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused him during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday of failing to "respect" the 2016 Brexit vote. She said Burnham had created confusion and asked whether he wanted a referendum on rejoining the EU. "There is no confusion at all," Burnham told MPs. "The government has a collectively agreed position, which I have set out today. It is entirely consistent with everything that I've said, including in the by-election." Burnham added that the "red lines" in Labour's manifesto, including on freedom of movement, would "stay in place firmly for the whole of this Parliament". The party's 2024 election manifesto ruled out a return of free movement, single market membership or a customs union. Freedom of movement allows EU citizens to travel, live, study and work in any member country, and is a precondition of membership of the EU's single market. Badenoch accused the prime minister of having "opened his mouth without engaging his brain" over freedom of movement during what she called "the chancellor's big week", as the Budget is unveiled. Recalling the mood in Parliament and the country in 2017 when the current Brexit deal was being fought over, she said: "We do not want to go through that again - the country was paralysed. It was miserable, regardless of which side of the debate you were on." Burnham said Badenoch was "speaking the truth" in that description, and argued the country had suffered from low growth and insufficient control over migration as a result of a "harder Brexit than what was promised" in the 2016 referendum. "Where I am focused is getting a better deal for Britain, that is my responsibility, and I will lead from this despatch box over the next few weeks," he said. At the summit in Brussels on 20 November, the prime minister will push options for a reset of relations with the bloc on issues including youth mobility, food, drink, energy and cooperation on illegal immigration. His comments at Prime Minister's Questions came as a letter emerged addressed to his Cabinet ministers asking them to be "aligned and disciplined" around the summit. "It will not be appropriate for ministers individually to advocate for specific options or opine on the likely outcome of the process," he wrote in the letter on Wednesday. Burnham said he hoped the summit would lead to "some important, concrete steps" and that he would set out the next steps "to consider the UK's long-term relationship with the EU as part of our 10-year plan". "Both the UK and the EU have changed considerably in the 10 years since the Brexit vote," he said. "Any future relationship depends on practical arrangements that are realistic for both sides, and responsive to this new reality." He added that any "fundamental change" to the relationship "would be for the public to decide and a matter for the next Parliament".