Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said Britain needs an "honest discussion" about a possible return to free movement with the European Union, in an interview with The Sunday Times reported on Sunday.

Source: The Sunday Times via Sky News / Classic FM, Oct 25

Burnham said freedom of movement "had very significant challenges associated with it", but added that it was "a type of immigration that perhaps wasn't as difficult" as the pattern since Brexit, describing EU-era migration as often a "revolving door" in which younger people came for a few years and then went back. "The balance of migration has changed, hasn't it, since then? I think we've just got to have an honest discussion about those things," he told the newspaper.

He said he wants a new relationship with Brussels that could potentially include full EU membership or joining the single market — both of which would require some form of free movement — while ruling out joining the euro or the Schengen passport-free zone. "I think you have to have a very factual, quite evidence-based debate about this," he said, according to BBC reporting of the interview.

Opposition reaction and the manifesto problem

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said there could be "no return" to free movement after the 2016 EU referendum, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the prime minister's remarks a "betrayal" of voters who supported Brexit, according to reports of the reaction. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told the BBC that nothing should be taken off the table, emphasising a pragmatic approach.

Labour's 2024 election manifesto ruled out a return of free movement, single market membership or a customs union. Burnham has said any fundamental change to the UK's relationship with the EU would need a mandate at a general election, which must be held by 2029. He is due to meet EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on 20 November.