A call for a factual debate

Andy Burnham says a return to brexit free movement deserves a fresh, honest debate with the British public. He acknowledged that freedom of movement carried what he called very significant challenges, but argued that European migration today is not what it was when Britain was an EU member.

In his view, the EU-era pattern was fundamentally different: it was, he told the Sunday Times, "Revolving door migration where people would come and then go back" - a type of immigration that was perhaps not as difficult as now.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: "I think you have to have a very factual, quite evidence-based debate about this".

Then and now: the numbers

The figures behind his argument chart a sharp shift since the referendum, when migration was one of the dominant debates of the campaign. According to the Office for National Statistics, net migration in the 12 months to June 2016 - the month of the leave vote - stood at a near-record 335,000.

• •Net migration peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023, driven by a surge of foreign workers encouraged by Boris Johnson's Conservative government as the UK emerged from Covid.
• •It has since fallen sharply to 171,000 last year, well below pre-Brexit levels and almost half the 2016 figure.

Those uk net migration figures, on his argument, mean the question deserves a fresh hearing.

The options on the table

Burnham said a future relationship could involve joining the single market - which would require signing up to freedom of movement - or being part of the eu customs union, with both paths requiring agreement to some EU-set rules.

He also defended the benefits of openness, pointing to the reciprocal advantages free movement brought Britons, particularly young people wanting to experience living in Europe.

There are limits, though: he said he could not imagine recommending the UK join the Schengen Area, where border controls have been abolished, or ditching the pound for the euro. He intends to use a November summit to lay out to the British public different options for the future relationship with the bloc.

Opposition voices

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the comments a "total betrayal" of voters who backed Brexit, including in Burnham's Makerfield constituency. He said Burnham was deluded to claim immigration was different when the UK was an EU member, adding that Reform UK would fight what he called this dishonesty.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Burnham knows a return to EU free movement would mean handing back control of borders and allowing uncontrolled migration from across Europe. "The British people voted to end free movement, and there can be no return to it," he said.

Burnham will meet EU chiefs at a summit in Brussels on 20 November. Any fundamental change in the UK-EU relationship is likely to have to wait until after a general election expected by 2029.