LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set on Monday to say he wants to have a difficult conversation about the “obvious truth” of the costs of Brexit in order to reset Britain’s relationship with the European Union ahead of a summit in Brussels this week.
Burnham is aiming for an agreement at Friday’s summit on areas such as food and youth mobility, which could help lower costs for consumers in the short term and ease some of the frictions caused by Britain’s departure from the bloc in 2020.
But Burnham also is looking for a broader reassessment of the Brexit deal struck by the previous Conservative government, saying he wants to have a conversation about its legacy that others have avoided.
“It’s like the emperor’s new clothes – where no one is prepared to say the obvious truth,” Burnham is set to say in a speech on foreign policy in London’s financial district, according to advance excerpts from his office. “Well, I say it as I see it. And to be frank, the emperor has nothing on. The Brexit we were given has not worked. We have lost more than we gained.”
Burnham’s willingness to suggest a broad array of options for the longer-term relationship with the EU reopens a debate which upended British politics when Britain voted to leave the bloc in a 2016 referendum.
His approach is a break from his predecessor Keir Starmer, who put red lines on not returning to the EU’s customs union, single market or freedom of movement in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
Burnham instead is set to say that any agreement with the EU on Friday must respect those red lines — which bind Labour until the next election, due in 2029 — while improving the Brexit deal and giving tangible improvements to people.
Britain and the EU are expected to agree to cut border checks on food and agricultural products and to arrangements to allow young people to live and work abroad more easily at Friday’s summit, which had been scheduled for July but was postponed when Starmer resigned.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Will Dunham)
