Andy Burnham said the UK had “lost more than gained” since leaving the EU, the latest in a series of comments from the Prime Minister criticizing Brexit.
Underscoring his desire for closer ties with Brussels, Burnham accused the Conservative Party of having “burned all our bridges” with the bloc after Brexit and said a new deal he hopes to strike with the EU next week will “drive down food prices” and put more money in the pockets of British exporters.
The Prime Minister is due to meet EU leaders at a summit next week and strike deals he says could increase GDP by 0.4% – around £17bn – including on food and farming, emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme. It will also “explore options” for a different long-term relationship with Brussels.
Speaking at the Welsh Labor conference on Saturday, Burnham said: “We must be prepared to make tough decisions to reduce the cost of living.
“That’s why, in a few days’ time, I will be heading to the next UK-EU summit and working hard as we move forward there to achieve a new deal on food and farming between the UK and the EU. Why am I doing this? Because I want to help Welsh businesses.
The Prime Minister added: “I think we’ve lost more than we’ve gained over the last 10 years and, in fact, I think the Conservatives have imposed on Britain a harder and harder Brexit than people thought they were going to get when they voted in 2016, because they burned all our bridges as a result, with the EU, and so I’m going to lead as Prime Minister on this issue, and I’m going to try to get the best possible deal for Wales, for those here who could do it. benefit, Welsh farmers, exporters of Welsh shellfish and Welsh lamb.
Burnham has recently said he is open to re-entering the single market, the customs union or “going all the way” by rejoining the EU, but he said on Saturday that voters would ultimately be “the boss” of any change.
He reiterated his commitment to the “red lines” of the Labor manifesto – which exclude a return to the customs union, the single market or free movement. “People working together in unions, in unions, but also in unions of nations, and that’s what makes us who we are,” he said at the conference.
“And, yes, working with the European Union, as I said, but at the same time respecting the red lines of our manifesto and respecting the referendum, the result of the referendum. So it is this spirit, everyone, that I will continue.”
The government has already made several announcements aimed at bringing the United Kingdom closer to Brussels. Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that the UK was prepared to spend up to £450 million a year to give European students reduced university tuition fees, if Brussels allowed Britain access to the Made in Europe industrial scheme.
Earlier this week, Hamish Falconer, the minister responsible for EU negotiations, said Britain was prepared to discuss funding infrastructure projects in the EU’s poorer regions in return for access to the European electricity market.
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Despite Burnham’s recent pro-EU comments, senior officials in Brussels have said they want to see the UK start paying for access to the EU programs it claims to want access to.
Former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told the BBC last week: “There will be no possibility of having one freedom and not the other. The four freedoms are clearly the four conditions for being part of a single market.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and António Costa, president of the European Council, will meet Burnham on November 20 in Brussels for a summit at which agreements on food and drink, carbon emissions and youth exchanges could be signed.
Barnier said last Sunday that the UK could not re-enter the single market “à la carte”, during an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, adding: “I have said very, very often during these negotiations, on Brexit, there was no triage. »
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