UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday (Sep 29) he will set out "different options" for future ties with the European Union closer to a planned summit with the bloc later this year.

"Brexit has done more harm than good. We need to restore a higher level of growth and prosperity for Britain," he told the Labour Party's annual conference in his first speech as leader.

Britain's contentious vote in 2016 to leave the 27-member EU had triggered "a decade of low growth which has put us in a weaker position", Burnham said.

And he insisted that contrary to the claims of pro-Brexit supporters "control over immigration was weakened when we lost collaboration with our European partners".

Britain's membership of the EU has long been a thorny and highly divisive subject after a knife-edge majority voted to leave in a landmark referendum a decade ago.

Since 2020, when Britain finally left the bloc, the subject has remained toxic, with few prominent figures wanting to go back to days of political paralysis and bitter feuding.

But Burnham said: “We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of this century until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market.”

He vowed to lay out ideas for the UK's "long-term relationship with our European partners" at a postponed UK-EU summit now set for later this year, to determine "how we best work together on immigration".

“Beyond that we will work to secure gains for our British industries most harmed by Brexit.”

The summit had been planned to be held in July in Brussels but was derailed when former prime minister Keir Starmer was ousted as Labour leader and replaced by Burnham.

The two sides had been hoping to present several deals at the summit, namely on food and animal safety standards, a youth mobility scheme, and the linking of their emissions trading systems.

Source: AFP

– Agencies