Andy Burnham is expected to edge Labour closer to rejoining the EU as he prepares to address the Labour Party conference for the first time as prime minister.
Ministers have told The Independent that it is now a question of how much he emphasises the UK’s return to Europe, rather than if.
Mr Burnham has already warned about the “drift and division” in the decade since Brexit and is expected to make reference to it in his speech on Tuesday, when he said he will “lay out a very clear path for the country”. This is a deliberate step to emphasise Labour’s differences with the right of centre parties.
There is growing optimism that a way back into the EU could be put to voters at the next election after the prime minister and senior ministers made it clear they believe Brexit has been a failure at this year's party conference.
When The Independent asked Mr Burnham about whether Rejoin would be in Labour’s next election manifesto on his recent trip to the UN in New York, he refused to rule it out – having said a year ago when he was Manchester mayor that he believes the UK should rejoin the EU.
One senior minister told The Independent that “the mood has completely changed on this subject.”
They added: “There is a lot of momentum around rejoining again. The economic data is there and we are feeling more relaxed about talking about Brexit as being a failure.”
Another senior minister said: “If there was no political risk I think we would rejoin tomorrow, but we have to be mindful of Nigel Farage and revitalising Reform.
“That said, if we want to grow the economy then we have to rejoin – we all know that.
“From the discussions taking place, it is not ‘if’ but ‘how’ we do it. Do we put it directly as a pledge in the manifesto or do we use a more indirect form of words about having a debate? That is the conversation now.”
The minister said former prime minister Sir Tony Blair’s recent intervention – that there needs to be a plan to rejoin a “reformed EU” in 10 years – was “to the point”.
The minister said: “There are problems with EU regulation on digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) which need to be relaxed. We need changes there because the UK is the centre of this technology.”
They added: “We also have those trade deals with India and Canada which we would need to move out of but the gains of having full access to the EU market would more than make up for that.”
Some though believe that Mr Burnham needs to act more speedily than waiting for the general election. In an interview with The Independent, Stella Creasy, chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, warned the UK needed to start looking at how to rejoin in the next six months.
A number of ministers agree with Ms Creasy that the EU’s “Made in Europe” rules could lock the UK out of trade and defence areas.
One cabinet minister said: “There is a real danger we are trapped alone between two tectonic plates of America First and Made in Europe.”
Another cabinet minister said: “There is an appetite for a more radical approach to Brexit but it will be conditional on what happens with Made in Europe.”
However, most agree with Sir Tony that Sir Keir Starmer’s red lines of not rejoining the customs union, single market or EU as a whole, along with not engaging in free movement, need to be dropped.
“They are holding us back unnecessarily,” one minister said.
David Lammy’s former foreign policy guru Ben Judah also called for a snap election on Brexit.
It came as foreign secretary Ed Miliband hinted at a change of direction, telling delegates that Britain’s future lies in a “stronger and deeper” partnership with the EU.
“This is our continent, and if there is one lesson that I have seen demonstrated to me again and again in this job, it is this: Europe is not just our geography, but so much more,” he said during his speech at the Labour conference.
“It is how we pursue our values from climate to the Middle East. It’s how we pursue our interests from trade to defence. It’s where we build and protect our alliances, so it is not simply Britain acting alone, but Britain with others.
“And on economics, on defence, on security, I say to this conference: our future lies in a stronger, deeper partnership with the European Union.”
Chancellor John Healey also namechecked “Boris Johnson’s Brexit” as a reason that the UK does not have the money which Sir Tony’s New Labour government was able to spend in the 1990s and 2000s.
Reacting to the raised hopes that rejoin is likely to feature in the Labour manifesto, Mike Galsworthy, chair of the European Movement, said: “This is fantastic news.
“Regardless of how it is phrased, the ambition that in the next parliament we would open accession talks to join the EU as a full member is an exciting one. This would mobilise and energise tremendously, especially at a time when Canada and other Commonwealth countries are looking to the EU as a bedrock of the shared future.
“We could, and should, be front and centre of those efforts that are now reshaping the world – and only full EU membership will cut it. We also owe it to our citizens, our businesses, our culture, and our next generations to magnify their opportunities. Brexit has been a misadventure – a dead horse that can no longer be flogged or carried. It's time to bury it as a cautionary tale and get back to where we belong."
Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, which campaigns for the UK to restore its EU membership, said: “This is a signal that the political class is finally catching up with where voters, particularly those prepared to vote Labour at the next election, have been for a long time.
“Through EU membership, which will generate at least £92bn in economic growth, this government can bring down the cost of living, keep our country safe and give our children a better future. It will lift the burden from the shoulders of the British people and take the brakes off British business. It's high time they put the UK at the heart of Europe, where we belong.”
At a fringe event, senior Labour backbencher Stella Creasy, chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, called for the party to put a “clear commitment” in its next general election manifesto for the government to “negotiate what rejoining [the European Union] looks like.”
“This country left the European Union not knowing what leaving would mean,” she said. “If we want to explore what rejoining the European Union is, then we need the democratic consent to have the conversation about what those issues would be.”
She added that in order to be able to include the commitment in the manifesto, the government must drop its red lines now.“If we want to have a serious conversation with our European counterparts about the challenges we are all facing - the social division, the economic uncertainty, the national security issues - everything must be on the table, and I mean everything: the single market, the customs union, the movement of goods, the people, of services.”
