Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday he would like the UK to rejoin the EU within his lifetime but ruled out reversing Brexit in the current parliament.
Speaking on ITV’s *Good Morning Britain*, Burnham stated: “I’m going to be honest and say, in my lifetime, I would like to see that happen but I am not going to move ahead of the public. I am not going to dictate in terms of my own opinions here. You have to make sure that the British public are the bosses.”
He acknowledged that Brexit had not delivered on its promises, weakening the economy and border controls. “I don’t think it has played out as people said it would at the time,” he said, adding that the UK now had “weaker control” over immigration, with the small boats crisis arising because “we can’t return people” as before.
Burnham stressed he would not deviate from Labour’s manifesto commitments, which exclude rejoining the EU in this parliament. “I’m not proposing rejoining in this parliament. We’re way, way away from that at this particular point in time,” he said. Instead, he pledged to take “practical steps to make the arrangement work better.”
He also ruled out an early general election, despite polling suggesting Labour’s lead. “There is no election coming anytime soon. People may as well put that out of their mind,” he told ITV.
Burnham said he hoped the upcoming UK-EU summit on 20 November could improve trade terms for British food manufacturers, who have been “hit hard by Brexit.”
