Burnham opens Labour debate on possible return to EU free movement

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the UK should openly consider returning to freedom of movement with the European Union, reopening one of the most divisive questions of the Brexit era. The Guardian and Sky News reported that he wants an “honest discussion” about the issue rather than treating it as permanently excluded from talks with Brussels. Burnham told the Sunday Times that remaining outside free movement should no longer be a red line.

He argued that the character of migration had changed, contrasting what he described as “revolving-door migration” with the movement of people who came to the UK and later returned to Europe. He acknowledged that freedom of movement had brought significant challenges. The prime minister also distinguished between closer economic ties and full EU membership.

He said the UK could potentially rejoin the single market and accept free movement without another in-out referendum if those measures were included in a Labour manifesto. Fully rejoining the EU, he said, would require a further referendum. Several senior Labour figures supported opening the debate.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said she wanted an honest conversation about the possible trade-offs before presenting the question to voters at a general election. Stella Creasy, chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, said the country was overdue for a mature discussion of what freedom of movement would mean. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is also described as favouring a substantially closer relationship with the EU.

The proposal faces resistance within Labour, particularly among MPs representing northern and Midlands constituencies that voted for Brexit. One Labour MP from a Brexit-voting seat warned that reopening the issue could put seats at risk from Reform UK. Jonathan Hinder, MP for Pendle, has pressed Burnham to rule out a return to free movement, while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has previously stressed that closer ties would involve difficult trade-offs.

Business voices are also divided. Richard Walker, a Labour peer and executive chair of Iceland, told Times Radio that restarting the argument would be dangerous and said opening the borders would not help the one million young people reported to be out of work. Supporters of closer EU ties, by contrast, see the single market as a possible way to reduce trade friction and support growth.

The debate sits uneasily alongside Labour’s existing manifesto commitments, which rule out a return to free movement and the single market. The Guardian reported that Burnham’s remarks suggest those positions could nevertheless be discussed at a forthcoming EU summit. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticised the proposal, while the supplied reports do not establish whether the government has adopted a formal change in policy.