“Welcome back,” Emmanuel Macron said in English, smiling, at a press event in the Spanish capital on Wednesday. The French president was answering a question about Andy Burnham, and what the British prime minister had said a day earlier at the Labour conference in Liverpool.
Burnham told delegates that Brexit had “done more harm than good” and that Britain would have no clear path until it settled its long-term relationship with what he called “what is still our largest market”. Next morning, in broadcast interviews, he laid out the choices. The country could stay as it is. It could seek a customs union, or go back into the single market. Or it could “go all the way”.
Madrid’s reply
Macron switched to French for the rest of his answer. If the British wanted to return, and if their prime minister was heading that way, it would be “very good news, both for his country and for the Europeans”. He praised Burnham for having the nerve to say it. He also repeated a familiar warning: a country outside the bloc cannot pick the freedoms it likes and drop the rest. “So, come back,” he said.
Pedro Sánchez, standing beside him, called the 2016 referendum result a huge loss for the British people and for the European project. Should London apply, Spain would “applaud it and open its arms again to a brotherly people”.
A cooler line from Brussels
The European Commission was more measured. Spokesman Balazs Ujvari called the UK a close and valued partner, said it was for the British government to set out what it wanted, and added that the Commission stayed open to whatever options London might put forward. Politico reported that EU officials were warmer in private. “The mood is positive,” one told the outlet.
Not everyone in Brussels is convinced the timing works. One diplomat asked why anyone should bother with difficult talks on food and farm standards, emissions trading and youth mobility if Britain now wants an entirely new deal. Another said any real discussion would probably run into next year, well past the summit. MEP Sandro Gozi, who shares the chair of the EU-UK parliamentary assembly, said Burnham had “swept away” the red lines that had boxed in the debate.
Those red lines have not vanished on the EU side. Officials told the Guardian that a customs union deal would mean following EU trade policy and tariffs completely, and that single market membership brings free movement of people. Brussels has lately floated the customs union as a way round its Made in Europe rules, which could lock British electric vehicles and green tech out of subsidy programmes and public tenders. France is the staunchest opponent of opening those rules to outsiders.
What binds Burnham for now
For the moment Burnham is tied to Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which closed the door on rejoining the EU or the single market. DW noted that he could push for a closer approach at the next general election, due by August 2029. Polls suggest most Britons now favour rejoining, but ideas such as adopting the euro or paying into the EU budget would provoke fierce resistance, and the UK is unlikely to win the exemptions it once had.
A UK-EU summit in Brussels is expected in the second half of November. It had been postponed after Keir Starmer resigned, and Burnham has said he will set out his options for the relationship closer to that date.
Sources
- Macron says 'welcome back' to Burnham suggestion UK could rejoin EU
- France, Spain welcome idea of UK rejoining EU
- Macron and Sanchez say UK would be welcome back in EU
