A senior EU official today warned Britain will face ‘difficult’ talks with the EU if it wants to rejoin, because members are scarred from the way the UK left in the first place.
Brussels’ foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas set the scene for the bloc to play hardball as she met Defence Secretary Wes Streeting in Belgium this morning.
With Andy Burnham preparing to attend a summit with the EU later this month she signalled that he will need to be prepared to make significant concessions from the ‘traumatised’ continent.
Mr Burnham is already embroiled in a major row over how far Labour wants to go in undoing the result of the 2016 referendum, with splits even appearing within his own Cabinet.
Mr Streeting, seen as one of the biggest Remainers in the Cabinet, admitted at a Brussels press conference EU membership was not ‘not an on and off switch’ and the idea of rejoining was some way off.
Ms Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, then said: ‘I must also say that there’s a lot of traumatised people from Brexit here in the European Union, so these negotiations will be difficult.
‘But we are not there yet.’
It came amid reports Mr Burnham is prepared to spend £450million of taxpayers’ money a year on subsidising EU students at UK universities as part of the deal.
Brussels’ foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas set the scene for the bloc to play hardball as she met Defence Secretary Wes Streeting in Belgium this morning
The Prime Minister is said to be ready to offer the cash in exchange for Brussels allowing British firms to join its ‘made in Europe’ programme at a summit later this month
Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves backed the Prime Minister’s stance on potentially deepening ties with the EU, days after her successor in No11, John Healey, struck a more Eurosceptic position
The Prime Minister is said to be ready to offer the cash in exchange for Brussels allowing British firms to join its ‘made in Europe’ programme at an EU-UK summit later this month.
The scheme prioritises European firms for public contracts and subsidies and the UK is keen for carmakers and other manufacturers to be included.
Reports at the weekend suggested the number of EU students and young adult workers who could come to Britain under a youth mobility scheme has also crept up towards 80,000 a year.
But offering to underwrite the tuition fees of EU students will prove highly controversial at a time when British students are up in arms over their own fees and the cost of student loans.
At the weekend former Chancellor Rachel Reeves backed the Prime Minister’s stance on potentially deepening ties with the EU, saying Brexit had made the UK ‘poorer, weaker and less secure’.
That came days after her successor in No11, John Healey, struck a more Eurosceptic position.
On tuition fees, a source told The Guardian: ‘We are willing to give the Europeans what they want on fees, but we will have to get something significant in return.
‘The biggest prize we are pushing for right now is access to Made in Europe, so there is a deal to be done there.’
Today Reform MP Danny Kruger issued a warning to Brussels that Nigel Farage would reverse any changes planned by Andy Burnham if he becomes prime minister.
Hoping that the EU will hear Reform’s pledge and worry negotiations with Mr Burnham will prove a waste of time, Mr Kruger told the Mail: ‘We think it’s directly the wrong direction to be going in.’
‘We want to increase our trade and cooperation with the EU, but on terms that benefit the United Kingdom and also enable us to do what we need to do, which is diverge in key areas… principally in tech, AI and so on.
‘We want to maximise our Brexit freedoms, not to surrender more of them – and I think that message needs to go fairly loud and clear to the government and indeed the EU.’
Mr Burnham wants to lock in deals on food and drink, emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme at the November 20 summit in Brussels.
But he has told ministers that the period beyond that would be to ‘explore options’ for the long-term relationship.
Any options on Britain’s future relationship with Brussels will eventually be put to the public, but the Prime Minister last week warned individual ministers it would not be appropriate ‘to advocate for specific options or opine on the likely outcome of the process’.
Reports at the weekend suggested the number of EU students and young adult workers who could come to Britain under a youth mobility scheme has also crept up towards 80,000 a year
In a letter to his Cabinet, Mr Burnham said any ‘fundamental change’ to post-Brexit arrangements would be ‘for the public to decide’ and left to the next parliament.
Ms Reeves, who was sacked as chancellor by Mr Burnham when he took office, said: ‘I am proud of the progress we have already made in strengthening our relationship with the European Union.
‘Brexit has made us poorer, weaker and less secure.
‘There is a debate to be had about our future relationship with Europe, and I welcome Andy Burnham’s leadership in facing up to this. No one in the Treasury ever doubted where my instincts were.’
Although Ms Reeves said she believed ‘Britain’s future lies in the European Union,’ she stressed it was ‘incumbent on supporters of our re-entry to make the argument, demonstrate tangible benefits and to get the next steps right’.
