Burnham Says EU Deal Could Be 'More Like the Brexit People Voted For'

Andy Burnham believes a deal with the EU can be struck, and that it could look more like the Brexit people believed they were voting for in 2016. He said the reset comes down to whether Britain can take a step back towards closer working relationships with Europe, adding: “We ended up with a far harder Brexit, I think, than people thought they were getting when they went to the polls.” He was meeting fellow leaders at the European Political Community summit in Dublin, a week out from the keenly anticipated EU-UK summit.

That Brussels summit is meant to deliver agreements on food and drink, emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme — with tuition fees for European students the stumbling block. The EU has said the prized food and drink deal and the emissions-trading agreement may not enter into force without a deal that lets European students pay domestic rates. Burnham called it a package deal but would not be drawn on whether he accepts that link, saying he would fight hard for the benefits over the next seven days and that he should act if he can address the cost of living crisis.

He has previously said the food and drink deal, which eases Brexit red tape, will add 0.4% to British GDP. “The deal is not done, and there’ll be some long nights ahead in the next seven days,” he said. Burnham is expected to make the EU reset the centrepiece of his white-tie speech at the lord mayor’s banquet on Monday night, though it will range widely across foreign policy challenges. No 10 sources said the speech would focus on the upcoming Brussels summit and look ahead to the next stage in 2027, rather than sketch out a more permanent close relationship.

Officials at the UK-EU summit will also discuss the agenda for the next round of the reset, expected to centre on a joint migration pact. It could target collaboration on law enforcement and borders, visas for touring artists and mutual recognition of qualifications. The UK is believed to be pushing for access to the Eurodac database of asylum seekers’ fingerprints and to the Schengen Information System, which records details on fugitives, missing people and stolen goods — the UK was its third biggest user before Brexit. Ministry of Justice officials are meanwhile trying to water down an EU ultimatum on halting the deportation of foreign national offenders. “This is the classic wheeze that the EU always pulls at the last minute of negotiations,” one Whitehall source said.

Access to Made in Europe looms as the key fight: without a deal, it has the potential to lock British firms out of continental supply chains and public contracts, and a UK concession on tuition fees is seen as the possible price of inclusion. The EU has long said there cannot be a deal on Made in Europe at the summit because it has yet to finalise its own position. The joint communique for 2027 is expected to call for strengthening efforts between the UK and the member states most exposed to the small boats crisis in the Channel, built around the EU’s Channel action plan in place since June and a possible framework for a wider bespoke EU-UK migration plan.