Burnham questions Brexit, says Britain should consider options for EU ties

The Hindu – International

You are logged in

Loading…

You don’t have any Active Subscription.

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one.

Your active subscription(s)

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials,
Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

Products you’ve access to

Additional Subscription Benefits

Account Settings

Need help with your subscription?

Weather News September 29, 2026 e-Paper

The View From India
Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.

First Day First Show
News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.

Today's Cache
Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.

Science For All
The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in!

Data Point
Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers

THEdge
At the cutting edge of education and careers

Health Matters
Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there

Gender Agenda
Stories from beyond the binary.

The Hindu On Books
Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.

Weather News September 29, 2026 e-Paper

Updated – September 29, 2026 09:38 pm IST – LONDON

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham reacts on stage at the Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool, Britain, on September 29, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he would lay out options the country had in terms of its long-term future with the bloc, in the coming weeks, as he argued that Britain’s exit from the European Union (‘Brexit’) in 2016 had caused more harm than good. The move is significant as it could potentially open the door to a full-scale reconsideration of whether to reverse Brexit.

“I cannot say to you truthfully, that where we are is good enough,” Mr. Burnham said, adding, ”Brexit has done more harm than good.” The U.K. Prime Minister was addressing the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool, his first as party’s leader.

The Prime Minister said the U.K. needed higher growth, as he promised to share the various options that Britain had in terms of its long term relationship with the EU, ahead of a U.K.-EU Summit later this year. He blamed Brexit for a loss in control over immigration and undocumented border crossings (i.e., via the English Channel on small boats), while emphasising that net migration was down more than 80% since its peak during the Boris Johnson administration.

The Labour Party is split on how much integration the U.K. should seek with the E.U. following Brexit. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who is also now a member of the U.K. House of Lords, had said that the Labour party should put rejoining the EU on its election manifesto for 2029.

Others, such as Britain’s trade minister Jonathan Reynolds, have taken a more cautious approach. He warned on Sunday that the “constitutional questions” raised by Britain’s relationship with the EU were causing uncertainty for businesses, as per a report in Politico.

During his remarks, Mr. Burnham pushed back against calls for independence by the ‘nations’ (i.e., Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) of the U.K. Referring to the comment by Scottish First Minister John Swinney that he (Mr. Burnham) would be the “last” Prime Minister of the U.K., Mr Burnham said,

“Not the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, rather the first to rewire it to make it work for all people and places.” Mr. Burnham emphasised his desire to take power from Whitehall (the nerve centre of British bureaucracy in London) and distribute it across the nations and regions of the U.K.

The Prime Minister said AI would be “centre stage” in the U.K.’s G20 agenda in 2027 when it holds the group’s presidency. The focus would be twofold; harnessing the benefits of AI while also focusing on safety. The Prime Minister’s remarks come as leading AI companies and voices have warned that AI could be out of human control in the next few years , with an increasing number of reports of AI breaching secure systems.

Mr. Burnham also pushed for electoral reform in the U.K. , as he announced the setting up of a cross-party national commission on electoral reform.

“We will all have failed in our public duties if we carry on as we are and open the door of Number 10 to a divisive government on less than 30% of the vote or less,” he said.

While he did not explicitly mention proportional representation (PR) in his speech, Mr. Burnham has, for some years now, backed the idea of doing away with Britain’s first-past-the-post system to PR.

The bulks of Mr. Burnham’s speech was focused on domestic priorities. These included greater public control of Britain’s water utilities; being “more pragmatic” about the U.K.’s oil in the North Sea; changes to the U.K.’s pension system; creating a social care service comparable to the National Health Service (NHS) and creating parity between vocational training and academic qualifications in the education system.

Published – September 29, 2026 09:32 pm IST

United Kingdom

Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Fonte: The Hindu – International