Andy Burnham warned of Brexit betrayal if he lets European Union ‘plunder’ Britain.TA
The Prime Minister is ‘barely been in the job five minutes and he’s already trying to ignore the democratic will of the British people’
Brexiteers have warned they are ready to battle attempts to put the UK back in the EU (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has been warned overturning Brexit will allow the European Union to “plunder” Britain and would be a direct betrayal of his voters in Makerfield. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of wanting to plunge Britain into a era of “tedious and divisive Brexit debates” as he prepares for a landmark UK-EU summit. There are fears the Labour leader will sign-up to “catastrophic” deals which will cost the country billions of pounds and make it harder to compete against European rivals. A call by France’s finance minister for Britain to rejoin the EU has triggered Brexiteer fury, with former Thatcher aide Lord Redwood warning the “EU sees us as Treasure Island, a place to plunder to help pay their excessive bills”.
Pressure will crank higher on europhile MPs on Monday when they debate a petition signed nearly 112,000 times which declares Brexit is “not working” and calls for the country to apply to rejoin the EU. Mr Burnham is preparing to lay out “different options” for Britain’s long-term relationship with Europe and has signalled this could include full membership.
Mrs Badenoch told the Express: “Andy Burnham wants to drag Britain back into the tedious and divisive Brexit debates of 10 years ago, when we should be moving forwards by using our freedoms to make the most of being outside the EU. Every time the Labour government has negotiated with the EU, they’ve given away too much and got too little in return. If Andy Burnham had any sense, instead of focusing on rewinding the clock to the EU debates he’d cut bad, anti-growth taxes like stamp duty and inheritance tax.”
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice fired a warning shot across Labour’s bows, saying: “If Andy Burnham wants a fight over rejoining the EU, Reform will give him one. He’s barely been in the job five minutes and he’s already trying to ignore the democratic will of the British people and drag us back into Brussels. He claims Brexit has done more harm than good, but the real harm being done to this country is by a Labour Government that can’t deliver growth, can’t control migration and now wants to hand more power back to Brussels.” He pledged his party would “never let this betrayal go unchallenged”.
Lord Frost was by Boris Johnson’s side in key moments in the Brexit dramas (Image: Getty)
Britain’s former chief Brexit Negotiator, Lord Frost, also sounded the alarm, claiming the cost of rejoining the EU could come to as much as £20billion. He said Labour’s attempt to “reset” relations with the EU “involves this country paying large sums to Brussels in return for the doubtful privilege of having them make our laws without asking us”.
French finance minister Roland Lescure’s invitation for the UK to “come back anytime” to the EU is the clearest sign yet that rejoining is back on the agenda. Economist Julian Jessop warned: “The so-called reset is the latest move towards rejoining the EU by stealth… In effect, Brussels is taking back control and sending us the bill.” Former Labour minister Baroness Hoey said that allowing “the EU any control over the UK” would be a “ridiculous move” when “France is in chaos and the entire EU is in a downward slope”.
Andy Burnham has put the UK’s future relationship with the EU on the agenda (Image: Getty)
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John Longworth, chairman of the Independent Business Network, had similar concerns, stating: “It is no wonder the French are keen on our joining the EU; they want our money to help pay for their deficit and for us to take their regulations so we can’t compete.” Fred de Fossard of the Prosperity Institute claimed the EU is attempting to “get hold of billions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money” when it faces a “fiscal crisis and long-term economic stagnation”. He said: “They want to undermine British competitiveness by increasing our energy costs, and they want Britain to bail out the EU which is crippled by debt after the pandemic and fund Europe’s bloated welfare states.”
The UK is expected to agree to a joint emissions trading scheme with the EU in the hope businesses will not will not face greater costs and more red tape. But Silvia Andreoletti of the Adam Smith Institute warned: “Signing up to costly EU schemes, especially when it comes to energy, would be catastrophic for the economy. The UK already has some of the highest energy prices in the developed world… While linking trading systems could reduce costs and bureaucracy for UK companies, it risks committing the country to more energy regulation than its economy can bear.”
Former Conservative Leader of the Commons Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg warned that the Prime Minister risked “cheating” the voters of Makerfield who sent him to Parliament in June. An estimated 65% of voters in the constituency backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum. In May, Mr Burnham declared that the “last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments” and warned that “Britain will be stuck in a permanent rut if we’re just constantly arguing and people are pulling away from each other”.
Cautioning the PM against going back into the EU, Sir Jacob said: “This would be disastrous for this nation. But it would also be stunningly undemocratic. It would be built on dishonesty… It certainly can’t be done on nine million votes that Labour got at the last election against the 17 million votes in the referendum. And it shouldn’t be done at all, because it is a cheat on Andy Burnham’s own electors.”
A Government spokesperson defended its dealings with the EU and its energy plans, saying: “We are building an ambitious, close relationship with the EU that will strengthen our economy and unlock good growth in every postcode. Linking our emissions trading systems will add up to £3.8billion a year to the economy in the long run and protect critical industries like steel and aluminium from a carbon tax on approximately £7billion in exports.” The Government insisted Mr Burnham will honour commitments in this Parliament not to rejoin the single market or the customs union or return to free movement of people. It claims his plan is to “move beyond division and build a national consensus around a practical relationship with Europe”.
Nigel Farage announces bombshell deportation plan for Afghan and Palestinian migrants
Nigel Farage will announce hardline migration plans next week.
Nigel Farage announces bombshell deportation plan for Afghan and Palestinian migrants (Image: Getty)
Reform UK said it will deport anyone who arrived under Shabana Mahmood’s refugee resettlement scheme if the party is elected. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, said he will “immediately end” the scheme when he announces the policy next Monday, along with several other immigration plans. The Home Secretary reopened the UK Resettlement Scheme for new referrals on September 28, to provide “genuine refugees a safe and legal route to the UK”. Around a quarter of referrals will be for Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees, fleeing war and persecution, Labour said.
However, speaking to The Telegraph ahead of his speech, Mr Farage said: “Britain is not obligated to take in more migrants, and under a Reform government, these people will not be able to stay.” His severe plans will also revoke residents’ right to remain if they are not considered to be in danger in their home country.
Nations from across the world would be affected. Migration Observatory estimates suggest between 622,000 and 820,000 non-EU citizens had settlement status at the end of 2024, which did not include the approximately 4million EU citizens who were living in the UK before January 2021, and hold settled or pre-settled status.
Mr Farage will also announce a review of Britain’s Afghan resettlement schemes and pledge to publish their costs next week. This was designed to resettle Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Government in exposed roles, as well as vulnerable individuals.
Reform has also escalated plans first announced in February for Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. Mr Farage said Reform would impose tariffs on the countries if they refused to take back illegal immigrants and foreign criminals residing in the UK, speaking to The Times.
The party originally planned to impose strict visa bans for people legally seeking to visit the UK from these countries. Reform said it believes that tariffs may be more effective. The proposed list includes several of the countries with the largest numbers of asylum seekers in the UK in recent years.
Reform has plummeted in popularity after controversy surrounding its funding (Image: Getty)
The party will also conduct an audit of migration figures and publish a detailed breakdown of the number of people who have arrived in Britain since 2010, by nationality and route of entry.
Channel crossings have fallen this year. They reached a peak of around 46,000 in 2022. In the year ending June 2026, the number of detected arrivals fell to around 33,000.
Support for Reform has plummeted amid controversy over the party’s funding and a recovery in Labour’s popularity thanks to Andy Burnham’s arrival at Number 10. The party has fallen to second place in most polls, its lowest rating since December 2024.
