Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s speech at the Labour Party conference on Tuesday has been lauded by some as one of the greatest British political speeches of the modern era. However, its bold contents brought many contentious topics to the fore – such as the possibility of a National Care Service, scrapping the triple lock, and Brexit. To fan the flames, in an interview with the BBC’s Today programme, Burnham talked about the possibility of ‘going all the way’ and rejoining the EU.  

The Prime Minister used his conference speech to reopen the Brexit debate, saying that it has done “more harm than good”. He added that at the forthcoming UK-EU summit, he will seek to forge a closer tie with the bloc after finding the current relationship was “not good enough”. Burnham said he would seek to “find consensus” on an option to clarify the UK’s position.  

Speaking about Britain’s relationship with the EU, he said: “Brexit hasn’t given us control. We’ve lost some of the control we had over our economy, as a decade of low growth has put us in a weaker position. And we’ve lost some of our control over immigration”. 

On Wednesday morning he delved into that further, saying: “There are clearly options that need to be considered, and we have to look at what is doable and what would be the pros and cons of each.” 

He added: “We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay.” 

“We could go all the way”

“We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market or we could go all the way,” Burnham concluded.  

In an interview with The Independent, Osborne said that Brexit “has been a mess” and that rejoining the customs union could help alleviate some of the pressure on the UK economy.  

However, there have been mixed reviews from his fellow party leaders – despite Burnham’s conference speech promise to try and seek cross-party consensus wherever possible.  

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said his party has put forward “concrete plans to boost our economy, strengthen our defences and cut people’s taxes by joining the single market and a customs union”. 

He added: “Talk is cheap. Burnham must stop with all the ‘maybes’ and get negotiating that better deal for Britain today.” 

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice accused Burnham of “trying to sneak us back into Brussels via the back door”. 

Tice said: “He says Brexit has done more harm than good but what’s done real harm is a Labour government that can’t deliver growth, can’t control migration and now wants to outsource the job to Brussels.” 

He added Reform would “never let this betrayal go unchallenged”. 

The full-steam-ahead option of rejoining would present its own set of difficulties. A referendum to rejoin risks opening old wounds and fresh divisions in a country that is already becoming increasingly polarised. Furthermore, there are risks that the membership terms would be worse and there would be strict requirements – such as joining the euro – to ensure the UK does not leave again. Rejoining would also be a slow process, considering long it took to get out in the first place. However, polling suggests that most UK voters think Brexit was a mistake – so perhaps it is time to stop shying away from the conversation and see what options the government and the bloc can present to the British people.