Ball in UK’s court: EU ambassador says Brussels will be ‘ready to engage‘ after country decides what it wants

Jukka Salovaara says the UK remains the EU’s ‘first and foremost partner’. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Jukka Salovaara, the newly installed European Union ambassador to the UK, is likely to become a ubiquitous figure in national politics as the Andy Burnham government grapples with the question of its future relationship with the European Union.

Burnham has been clearer than his predecessor Keir Starmer in saying that what exists now is not working and that a full range of options, including rejoining, has to be on the table ahead of Labour’s next election manifesto.