Burnham Pledges Fresh Post-Brexit Deals With EU at November Summit

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told the House of Commons that he will seek a series of new post-Brexit agreements with the European Union at a summit scheduled for next month, arguing that closer cooperation on trade, energy and immigration could deliver a significant boost to the British economy.

In a statement to MPs, Burnham identified youth mobility, food and drink exports, and energy trading as the key areas where he believes "deeper cooperation" with Brussels could help drive economic growth. The prime minister framed the upcoming summit as a pivotal moment for UK-EU relations and said his immediate priority was securing a successful outcome when leaders meet in November.

The drive for closer ties marks a notable shift in tone from the years of strained relations that followed the UK's departure from the EU, though Burnham was careful to stress that Labour's manifesto commitments would remain intact until the next general election. Those commitments include not returning to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement, and the prime minister made clear he had no intention of breaking those red lines in the current parliamentary term.

However, Burnham also signalled that he wants a broader conversation about Britain's long-term relationship with the bloc, saying: "I believe we should then set up a serious dialogue about the different options for our relationship in the long term." He added that at every stage "the British public will be the boss," and claimed that public opinion currently supports a pragmatic approach to dealing with Europe.

The prime minister's comments will likely intensify debate about the direction of UK-EU relations, particularly given that in interviews following Labour's party conference he declined to rule out the possibility of a new manifesto commitment that could include re-joining the EU. That prospect remains highly contentious among voters and within his own party, and Burnham's careful wording appeared designed to keep both pro-European and Brexit-supporting factions onside.

One of the most significant issues raised in Burnham's statement was the EU's so-called Made In Europe plans, which the prime minister warned posed "a risk to UK manufacturing." The proposals are designed to shield European industry from Chinese competition, but British officials fear they could have serious knock-on effects for UK manufacturers and supply chains that are deeply integrated with their European counterparts. Burnham said he was in talks to secure "an arrangement" that would work for the UK.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch responded sharply to the prime minister's statement, accusing him of "unpicking the deal this country signed with the EU a decade after the referendum." She argued that Burnham would not secure better terms than those the Conservatives had negotiated and claimed he had given away his negotiating position before talks had even begun.

"His exact words earlier this year were, 'the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments' and yet here he is unpicking the deal this country signed with the EU a decade after the referendum," Badenoch said. The Conservative leader, a former trade secretary, added that the EU are "tough negotiators" and warned that Burnham had "blurted out everything he wants in this statement."

The summit will place a series of potential deals on the table, including agreements on food and drink, energy trading, and cooperation on immigration and security. Burnham claimed these agreements could add the equivalent of £10bn per year to the UK economy by 2040, describing it as a "dereliction of duty" to turn away from the chance to cut bureaucracy and reduce friction at the border.

The prime minister highlighted the practical damage that current post-Brexit arrangements are causing to British exporters, noting that entire truckloads of plants and fresh produce can be destroyed because of a single missing stamp or a minor paperwork delay. He pointed to the plight of Scottish salmon, the UK's largest food export, which faces a 100% rate of document checks at the border, costing the industry around £100m in lost exports. British burgers and other fresh meat products remain unable to be sold in the EU, while seed potatoes from Scotland and shellfish from Wales are effectively banned from the European market.

Burnham said a fresh agreement at the EU summit would "ease the pressure on prices in the supermarket," linking the trade friction directly to the cost-of-living pressures facing households across the country. He also argued that securing an energy deal involving emissions trading could "lower energy costs for households and businesses alike," claiming it could cut wholesale energy costs by 20% in Northern Ireland.

Beyond trade and energy, the prime minister said he hoped to rebuild links with EU police and security agencies to improve information-sharing and help tackle the smuggling gangs that facilitate illegal immigration across the English Channel. Coordination on immigration enforcement has become a central plank of the government's approach to border security, and Burnham suggested that closer cooperation with European partners was essential to making progress on the issue.

The context for the upcoming summit stretches back to the 2020 withdrawal agreement, which settled the UK's "divorce bill" payments to the EU and allowed British rules and regulations to begin diverging from those in the bloc. That divergence was necessary to allow the UK to negotiate trade deals with other countries, but it created significant problems for food exports to the EU, which remains Britain's largest trading partner by a considerable margin.

Efforts to address those problems began under Burnham's predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, who sought to renegotiate some common rules to reduce red tape. In May 2025, that process produced a post-Brexit deal that agreed continued access to UK waters for EU fishing boats until 2038, in exchange for reduced checks on food exports to the EU. The arrangement allowed the UK to sell raw burgers and sausages back into the EU for the first time since Brexit, a modest but symbolically important breakthrough.

Burnham also argued that being open about his ambitions for a new relationship with the EU was necessary to secure a good deal on all these fronts. "If we are serious about promoting growth, controlling immigration, upholding our values and security, it is a conversation we must have," he told MPs. "Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain." His remarks set the stage for what is likely to be a fiercely contested debate over the future of UK-EU relations in the months ahead.