Andy Burnham sent huge warning after new Brexit demand – ‘delusional!’

Andy Burnham has been warned against a “delusional” bid to rejoin the EU after fresh calls by a Left-wing think tank. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said Britain should make Brussels membership its “medium-term” goal.

It comes as the Prime Minister is due to set out options for the UK’s future relationship with the bloc next month. But Brexiteers insisted that returning to the bloc will not solve the country’s economic problems.

Tory frontbencher Mike Wood said: “Calls to drag Britain back into the EU show that these Labour-friendly think tanks still haven’t learned the lessons of Brexit. Reopening old arguments about our relationship with Europe will do nothing to tackle the challenges facing families and businesses across the country today.

“Britain needs a government focused on getting our economy growing, bringing bills down and creating jobs, not revisiting settled questions. Labour must also be clear with the country that closer alignment comes with a cost.”

Senior Conservative MP Dame Priti Patel said it was “delusional to think that rejoining the EU will solve the economic challenges Britain faces today”. She went on: “Labour’s agenda of more state control, along with membership of the EU, will only lead to more indecision, buck-passing, higher government spending and more taxes as we subsidise the EU and all the projects we’d be signing up to.

“The Left need to be honest with the public about the enormous trade-offs for UK taxpayers rejoining the EU will lead to. From more mobility and free movement schemes, to concessions on fishing, farming and removing Britain’s ability to undertake free trade outside the EU and the inevitable price for joining EU schemes, this will be wrong for our country and will only cause further uncertainty and division.”

Reform’s Andrew Rosindell added: “This is the usual Brussels-obsessed nonsense from a Labour-aligned think tank that still hasn’t accepted the result of the biggest democratic vote in British history. Reform UK will never support rejoining the EU. Instead, will continue to fight for a fully independent Britain that puts its own interests first, not the fantasies of a metropolitan elite.”

In its report, the IPPR said that changes in global politics over the past decade mean the UK should make becoming an EU member state its “medium-term” goal. The think tank’s executive director Harry Quilter-Pinner said: “The world Britain built its post-Brexit strategy for no longer exists.

“We are entering an age in which economic strength, security and political influence increasingly depend on scale, and Britain cannot manufacture that scale on its own.”

But the think tank admitted that the Government would need to take time to build a case for membership. Mr Quilter-Pinner added: “There is one option which is best for the UK’s relationship with Europe – membership of the EU.

“That does not mean announcing another referendum tomorrow. But this means starting work to move towards this destination, building political support at home and in Europe.”

The report argued that Britain lacks the “scale” to deal with “Russian aggression, American unreliability and Chinese coercion” on its own.

IPPR associate director Laura Chappell said: “Whether it’s protecting households from swings in the cost of living, restarting industry, or keeping us secure, we lack the weight to act alone. In today’s world, we can’t take back control while being an outsider in Europe.”

The think tank said old arguments about freedom of movement had lost “salience”, while claims of “betraying” the 2016 referendum also mattered less. But it acknowledged that concerns about contributions to the EU’s eye-watering budget and replacing the pound with the euro could hit support for membership.

It comes as the Prime Minister said he would set out the options for Britain’s long-term relationship with Europe at the UK-EU summit in Brussels on November 20. He has not ruled out a pledge to rejoin the EU without a referendum in Labour’s next manifesto.

This is despite promising not to “re-run” Brexit arguments when he was standing in the crunch by-election in Leave-voting Makerfield. But in his Labour conference speech, he insisted that Brexit has “done more harm than good”.

A government spokesman said: “The threadbare Brexit deal inherited by this government has weakened our ability to control illegal immigration, slowed growth and left businesses tangled in red tape. We are working on practical deals that pay off for British farmers and families and will support growth in every UK postcode, cutting back on paperwork and easing pressure on prices.”