The United Kingdom is in talks with the European Union about potentially restoring free movement across borders and other options that would bring the country closer to the bloc. The Times reports this, citing anonymous sources.
According to the report, Prime Minister Andy Burnham plans to present his vision for closer ties with the EU, up to and including the potential of rejoining it, and to hold “conversations with British society about the long-term future”. Possible options are also being discussed with EU officials to ensure both sides would agree.
According to the newspaper’s source, the discussions will take place before Burnham makes his first official statements. On 20 November, the British Prime Minister plans to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a summit in Brussels. The UK and the EU are expected to announce agreements on food standards as part of a broader sanitary deal. Progress is also expected on the “Made in Europe” programme, which will affect British manufacturers, including carmakers.
The source said that all possible agreements would first be discussed through diplomatic channels before being put on the table.
This Monday, Andy Burnham said he would like to see the UK reunite with the EU within his lifetime. However, Downing Street treated the remarks more as a private comment than an official government position.
“We got a harder Brexit than was proposed during the referendum campaign. However, I am not proposing returning to the EU in this parliamentary term,” he said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is confident that if a second referendum were held, the British people would once again vote not to be part of the European Union.
“People may be disappointed that their hopes have not been fulfilled, and I am one of them. But a referendum on reunification: £41 billion a year is a rough estimate of the contribution, obligations on free movement of people, and an obligation eventually to adopt the euro. I do not see any scenario in which Britons would vote for that. So I welcome a referendum,” he said.
- The UK was a member of the EU from 1973, but kept its own currency and did not join the Schengen Area. In 2016, a majority of UK residents voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. The process of the country’s “separation” from the bloc took years. Only in 2018 did the law on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU come into force. And the final withdrawal of the UK from the EU took place on 1 January 2021.