A Labour minister repeatedly refused to rule out putting ‘rejoin’ in the party’s next manifesto.
Andy Burnham has spoken before about wanting to rejoin. (Image: Daily Express)
Labour have opened the door to a Brexit sellout after a minister repeatedly refused to rule out putting rejoining the EU on the ballot at the next election. During a heated Commons exchange, minister Hamish Falconer was pressed several times to directly rule out putting “rejoin” in Labour’s next election manifesto. But he refused, instead saying he wanted to “go further and faster” in improving the deal left by the Conservative Party.
Mr Falconer, who as Minister for European Relations is a key player in Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s EU reset plans, was directly asked by Conservative MP Alex Burghart: “Why is it so hard for the minister and the government to rule out rejoining the EU?” But the Minister dodged the question, saying only that he wanted to “improve” the Brexit deal – and again declined to rule out rejoining outright.
The Daily Express recently launched our ‘Give Us A Proper Brexit’ campaign, demanding Whitehall stop dragging Britain back to Brussels by stealth.
We are calling for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR, slice up Brussels red tape and impose a protected fisheries area around the coast. The campaign has been backed by the Conservative Party, Reform UK and major figures from across the Leave campaign.
Speaking to this paper, Mr Burghart warned that Labour “wants to keep membership of the EU alive”, and cautioned Mr Burnham not to “turn back the clock to 2016” but rather start “looking to the future”.
He said: “When Kemi Badenoch was Trade Secretary she secured Britain’s membership of the world’s largest free trade bloc, the CPTPP.
“Only the Conservatives under Kemi will seize opportunities around the world and help us build a stronger economy and a stronger country.”
Fears that Britain could be dragged back under Eurocrat rule have only grown since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.
An ardent remainer, who as recently as last year called for re-entry into the block “in my lifetime”, Mr Burnham refused to answer questions about his current position when doorstepped by this newspaper.
He toned down his pro-EU rhetoric when running for the Makerfield by-election, a victory that swept him into No10 just weeks later.
Makerfield voted to leave the EU by more than 65 per cent and Mr Burnham spent much of the election insisting that rejoining was not on the ballot paper.
Yet since his win the Labour government has proceeded with plans to “reset” relations with Brussels, and Cabinet ministers have themselves openly called to rejoin.
Mr Burnham refused to answer about his Brexit plans (Image: Daily Express)
In May this year Wes Streeting, who now serves as Defence Secretary, broke ranks to openly demand the country submit to Brussels once again.
He called for a “new special relationship with the EU” and claimed the country’s “future lies with Europe, and one day – one day – back in the European Union“.
Mr Burnham is now facing mounting pressure to cave to rejoiners and return to his old position of backing EU membership.
Britain’s most powerful union baron, the TUC’s Paul Nowak, reportedly told the Prime Minister the “time is now” for new ties with the EU.
Speaking to the Independent ahead of their conference next week, Mr Nowak urged Mr Burnham to forge a new deal with Brussels that he believes would ease the economic impacts of Brexit.
The government has previously said that there are no plans to rejoin the European Union, and are believed to instead be focusing on improving deals between the UK and the EU.