Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he would like to see Britain rejoin the European Union within his lifetime, while directly attributing the Channel small-boat crisis to the UK’s departure from the bloc.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on October 26, Burnham said: “I’ve said I’m going to be honest and in my lifetime, I would like to see that happen. But I am not going to move ahead of the public. I am not going to dictate in terms of my own opinions here. You have to make sure the British public are the bosses.”
He explicitly ruled out any attempt to rejoin during the current parliament, saying the UK remains “way, way away from that”.
He implied, though, that tackling Brexit was key to moving forward in British politics.
”The divides that we’ve lived through in the last decade really do need to end, and we need to pull people together …
“I’m trying to give the country a direction and there is no way I can do that without coming back to the relationship with Europe and saying, ‘Look, here are some options as to how we got this right.’”
Adding to this, Burnham argued that Brexit has left the UK with weaker control of immigration.
“The reason the small boat crisis has arisen is because we can’t return people, and people know we can’t do that in the same way that we used to be able to do,” he claimed.
He described the post-Brexit settlement as harder than what was proposed during the 2016 referendum campaign, claiming it has damaged both the economy and the ability to return failed asylum seekers.
Burnham made these claims despite the fact that small boat crossings were first detected at the end of January 2018, two years before Britain left the EU. Home Office records date the first landing to January 31 that year, when seven people arrived in a single boat, and 299 crossings were counted over the whole of 2018. The then home secretary declared a major incident in the Channel on December 28, 2018, while the UK was still a member state.
The comments follow Burnham’s weekend interview with The Sunday Times, in which he called for an “honest” and “evidence-based” discussion about the UK’s future relationship with the EU — including the possible return of freedom of movement. He said migration under EU membership had been of a “revolving door” kind, different in character from arrivals today, while conceding that free movement had significant problems attached to it.
He has previously suggested options ranging from the status quo to a customs union, single market membership, or full re-entry, while stressing that any major shift would require a fresh electoral mandate. Labour’s 2024 manifesto ruled out all three.
In his speech to Labour’s annual conference on September 29, he claimed that Brexit had “done more harm than good”.
Burnham is due to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders in Brussels on November 20 for talks aimed at improving the current Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Defence and security, energy, agrifood rules, migration and law enforcement are expected to feature.
He has said practical steps on issues such as youth mobility, food standards and energy can be pursued in the meantime, while keeping Labour’s 2024 manifesto red lines in place for the rest of this parliament.
The remarks have drawn criticism from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who described any reopening of free movement as a “betrayal” of the 2016 vote. Burnham, who entered Downing Street on July 20 after winning a by-election in Makerfield in June, was accused by Farage of betraying the seat that sent him back to Westminster.
Farage later also posted a video on social media of the riots in France, stating in all caps, “This is what Andy Burnham wants an open border with”.
Burnham has insisted he is not proposing to re-run the referendum and that the public will decide any future change in the relationship.
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: Andy Burnham has opened the door to Britain readopting the European Union’s free movement rules, arguing that an “honest discussion” is needed, reports @benrileysmith pic.twitter.com/PQ0M0mGAIO
— The Times and Sunday Times (@thetimes) October 24, 2026
