Andy Burnham has said he could go “all the way” and propose rejoining the European Union.
The Prime Minister, who has blamed Brexit for a decade of drift and division, made the dramatic announcement as the economic damage inflicted on Britain from quitting the EU has become increasingly clear.
But the prospect of reversing Brexit triggered an angry response from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
In his first Labour Party conference speech as leader, the Prime Minister said Brexit had done “more harm than good” and promised to set out the options to the country around the time of a UK-EU summit later this year.
He told the BBC on Wednesday that he did not want to leave the issue “hanging” and he wanted to be clear on “where we want Britain to go in the next decade”.
Asked whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc, he told the Today programme he wanted to “look at the options”.
He explained: “We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay.
“We could look at what (former Conservative chancellor) George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market or we could go all the way.”
Labour’s election manifesto in 2024 ruled out joining a customs union, going back into the single market or allowing the return of freedom of movement with the EU.
But Mr Burnham has indicated he is prepared to recommend going beyond those red lines in future.
“There are clearly options that need to be considered, and we have to look at what is doable and what would be the pros and cons of each,” he added.
But Reform hit out at Mr Burnham over his defiant stance on Brexit.
The party’s deputy leader Richard Tice said: “Andy Burnham has barely been Prime Minister five minutes and he's already trying to sneak us back into Brussels via the back door.
“He says Brexit has done more harm than good but what's done real harm is a Labour government that can't deliver growth, can't control migration and now wants to outsource the job to Brussels.
“Reform UK will never let this betrayal go unchallenged.”
However, the UK’s economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, says splintering away from the European Union has wiped billions off the economy, depriving the country of desperately-needed money for hospitals, schools and other public services.
The Leave campaign, led by Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, sought to lure voters by dangling the prospect of £350 million more a week for the NHS from quitting the EU, which was famously emblazoned across a bus.
Mr Burnham said in his speech that at the UK-EU summit he would seek to strike deals on immigration and to help the sectors in Britain most harmed by Brexit.
But he added: “These are important, concrete steps, but they are not enough.
“I say this to you and the country - we will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of this century until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market.”
