BRITAIN CONTEMPLATES A BREXIT RESET

Just three months into office, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made Brexit a frontline issue on his policy agenda.

While not stating a definitive position on the matter, Mr Burnham has opened the door for debate on whether, rather than if, the UK should have some semblance of membership with or within the European Union.

The UK had an acrimonious break with the EU following a referendum in 2016. Since then, there has been intense debate in the country over whether the Brexit benefits advocated by the winning Leave campaign have materialised.

The Brexit referendum campaign was split between Leave and Remain groups.

Recent polling suggests that a greater majority of people(over 60 per cent) would now vote to return to the EU fold, in stark contrast to the narrow Brexit referendum outcome in 2016 of 52 per cent in favour and 48 per cent against.

Mr Burnham’s current position favouring closer relations with the EU has wavered slightly since he started his campaign earlier this year to replace Sir Keir Starmer for the UK’s top political job.

Speaking in May, two months before he became Prime Minister, Mr Burnham appeared more adamant in his stance on Brexit even though he admitted that it had failed.

“My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments,” he said, adding, “I am not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made at the referendum, and it is going to undermine everything I have said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.”

CHANGED TONES FOR CHANGING TIMES

However, just a few days ago, Mr Burnham was more welcoming of new and closer ties with the EU, stopping just short of saying how.

“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay…I think we’d have to see where the options fell out, and then, depending on what people seem to be pointing towards, what we then do,” he said.

The UK Prime Minister has discussed resetting relations with the EU, the UK’s largest trading partner, in high-level talks with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the UN General Assembly.

A subsequent UK government statement said the two leaders discussed the importance of working towards a successful outcome for the next EU-UK summit later in the year. That meeting is scheduled for November 20th in Brussels.

Just recently, Prime Minister Burnham told the UK House of Commons that he wanted to secure a deal on the agreements started by his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, to be followed by what he described as a “calm, clear-eyed, rational look” at even closer relations.

He said: “If we are serious about promoting growth, controlling immigration, upholding our values and security, it is a conversation we must have. Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain. Worse, it would be a major dereliction of duty to turn away.”

Mr Burnham had previously suggested that these future options could include rejoining the single market, customs union, or even the EU wholesale, an option which was ruled out by former prime minister Starmer.

In January this year, the UK government under the then Starmer leadership, in responding to a petition, insisted that the UK “will not be rejoining the EU”. It said then the government had “reset its relationship with the EU with a new strategic partnership” with a deal that was “good for UK bills, borders, jobs and growth”.

However, the stance now being adopted by the Burnham government sets the stage for a new and potentially deeper UK/EU conversation.

WOULD/SHOULD THE OTs HAVE A SAY THIS TIME?

The question for the UK’s Overseas Territories is whether they will be part of any further decision-making regarding the UK’s future involvement with the EU…or whether they would want to.

In the 2016 referendum they were only ‘consulted’ - meaning advised. The only OT that had a vote in the referendum was Gibraltar because it’s on the EU mainland and shares a contiguous - and contentious - border with EU member, Spain. Brexit has also meant that the OTs were gradually excluded from EU funding programmes. Although the UK government that had negotiated the previous Brexit ‘deal’ gave a commitment to fill that funding void, the extent to which this has been achieved remains a matter of debate.

The UK has also just published its new Charter of Engagement with the OTs which comes just three months ahead of both the next UK OTs Joint Ministerial Summit(JMC) and the UK/EU Summit in November.

It’s also yet to be seen whether the Brexit issue, a key agenda point in the UK/EU talks, will also be part of the UK OTs talks.