Rayner Defends Burnham's EU Rethink: "Nothing Off the Table"

Rayner Defends Burnham's EU Rethink: "Nothing Off the Table"

Rayner takes the hot seat on Sunday morning TV

Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner appeared on BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 25 October, broadcast from 09:00 BST and also available on iPlayer. Reform UK's Robert Jenrick and Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper also appeared on the programme. The interview came days before Labour's first Budget under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, due on Wednesday.

"An honest conversation" about Europe

Rayner used the interview to defend Burnham's call for an "honest conversation" about Britain's future relationship with the European Union. She insisted the prime minister was not trying to re-run the 2016 referendum debate, saying he would set out "what I believe the different options are for Britain's long-term relationship with our European partners" around a UK-EU summit later this year and seek consensus on one of them.

The economic case: exports down by a fifth

Her central argument was economic. Rayner said Britain had not secured the best deal, with exports reduced by 20% and red tape and friction stopping businesses trading as they would like with their biggest partners. She said voters deserved an honest discussion of the trade-offs, with any new direction put to the people at a general election. Better arrangements for tackling international criminals, trade, farmers and export sectors, she added, should all be part of that conversation.

Free movement question, repeatedly dodged

Kuenssberg pressed Rayner several times on whether that conversation includes a return to freedom of movement. Rayner declined to give a yes-or-no answer or "write a manifesto" on the show, repeating that Burnham wants the discussion but that it would not mean "going back to where we were in 2016". Burnham himself told the Sunday Times he wanted a "factual, quite evidence-based debate", describing ."revolving door migration where people would come and then go back" as different from today's pressures. He added he could not see himself ever recommending joining the euro or the Schengen borderless area.

Critics cry betrayal as red lines hold — for now

The remarks drew immediate fire. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called it a "total betrayal" of Brexit Britain and his Makerfield pitch. Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said a return to EU free movement would mean handing back control of our borders and allowing uncontrolled migration from across Europe, and that the British people voted to end free movement and "there can be no return to it". Rayner countered that Labour's 2024 manifesto red lines — no return to freedom of movement, the single market or the customs union — still stand, ten years on from the referendum, so any fundamental change would have to wait until after an election.

What comes next: Brussels summit and the Budget

Two dates shape the story from here. Burnham will meet European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on 20 November for the second UK-EU summit, where he plans to push for deals cutting costs and red tape for farmers and businesses. Before that, Wednesday's Budget — his government's first — will set the economic frame against which voters judge whether the promised "honest discussion" can deliver growth.