Andy Burnham said Britain needed to work with European partners on immigration and promised to set out the different options for the country’s future relationship with the bloc.
Andy Burnham addresses the Labour Party conference (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has taken a veiled swipe at British “flag waving”, contrasting it with what he described as his father’s “quiet patriotism” during a speech at Labour conference. The Prime Minister made the remarks as he paid tribute to his late father Roy Burnham at a fringe event in Liverpool.
Mr Burnham said his father’s patriotism was not about “flag waving”, but instead about people “sticking together from the bottom up”. He said: “He was all about that. That’s how he brought us up.”
Mr Burnham was speaking at Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s fringe reception, where he also reflected on his Liverpool roots and the influence of his family on his politics.
Andy Burnham wraps up his Labour conference speech to huge applause
The comments came just a day after Mr Burnham used his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister to announce a major rethink of Britain’s relationship with the European Union.
Mr Burnham told Labour delegates that Brexit had “done more harm than good” and said Britain needed to consider its long-term relationship with its European neighbours.
He said the UK had lost “some of the control we had over our economy” because of a decade of low growth, while also arguing that immigration control had been weakened by leaving the EU.
Mr Burnham said Britain needed to work with European partners on immigration and promised to set out the different options for the country’s future relationship with the bloc around a planned UK-EU summit.
He also said the Government would seek gains for industries he said had been harmed by Brexit.
His comments on patriotism came as he sought to present himself as a politician prepared to break with Westminster tradition while stressing his belief in Britain.
In his conference speech, Mr Burnham described himself as a “patriot” and said the country needed a new sense of confidence.
He told Labour: “The patriot in me tells me something very different is needed.”
He also declared that Britain should become “confident of our place in the world”.
Mr Burnham used the speech to argue that the country had been on the “wrong path” for decades, listing deindustrialisation, deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit among the developments he said had contributed to Britain’s current position.