Opinion: ‘Be brave, Andy, and put EU membership back on the ballot’
OPPORTUNITY: Andy Burnham. Picture credit: Scottish Government
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
Whichever Labour MP crosses the threshold of 10 Downing Street this hot summer to become our new Prime Minister, they should be in no doubt about one thing – they are entering the last chance saloon, both for party and country.
If the Parliamentary Labour Party has any sense, that person will be the new Makerfield MP Andy Burnham.
In the current circumstances, the prospect of a leadership contest can only be viewed as folly and indulgence. The reality is the chances of any other contender beating Burnham in such a contest are about as slim as Cape Verde winning the World Cup.
And with the outcome so predictable, a leadership contest would serve only to damage the Labour brand further and also anyone who takes part, including Burnham. It would also rob the winner of a precious commodity they will have little of – time.
For of all the lessons that can be drawn from the disappointing and short-lived premiership of Sir Keir Starmer, one that his successor should be acutely aware of is just how quickly political capital can evaporate.
Starmer never recovered from early setbacks and mistakes, despite beginning his term with a well of good will and a commanding majority. Sadly for him and the rest of us, the man who campaigned on an agenda of change failed to deliver it with anything like the scale or speed that was needed.
Time and again when things went wrong or he was forced on the defensive, Starmer sought to reassure colleagues and the public by saying “I get it”. His successor should know, as Starmer clearly didn’t, that this is the sort of mea culpa that can only be deployed once if a leader is to retain any measure of confidence and credibility.
The next Prime Minister is unlikely to even have the luxury of asking for a second chance, such will be the pressure to deliver and with the mood in certain parts of the electorate so febrile.
But that is not to say our next PM has no room for manoeuvre or time to prove their worth; quite the opposite. Assuming it is to be Burnham he will be starting with the very thing he says he wants – the chance to do things differently. It is a chance he cannot afford to squander.
What he should do, to meet the moment, is to be bold, brave and radical. And there is one policy he could adopt that would seize the initiative, transform the economy and prove he has the above qualities in abundance – reverse Brexit and take the UK back into the European Union.
Burnham has said he would like to see the UK back in the EU in his lifetime. The question is why wait? Make it a manifesto commitment and fight a General Election on the issue.
Ten years after Brexit – this country’s biggest foreign policy disaster since the Suez crisis – polls suggest a majority are consistently now in favour of restoring formal relations with our biggest trading partner.
It would have the added benefit of delivering a potentially knock-out blow to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. For too long, with the notable exceptions of the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, Labour under Starmer and the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch have responded to the rise of Reform by tacking to the right in the mistaken belief that hardline rhetoric on immigration can win votes from Reform supporters.
This is deeply cynical, not in the national interest, and therefore a failure of leadership. They can never out-Reform Reform. Best leave that to Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, who took a significant share of the vote from Reform in the Makerfield By-Election.
Reform’s loss in Makerfield, following on from defeat to the Greens in an earlier By-Election in Gorton and Denton, plus questions about a £5m personal gift to Farage from a crypto billionaire, all add to the suspicion that Reform’s support and momentum may have peaked, making them and Farage suddenly appear vulnerable.
STEPPING DOWN: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Picture credit: The Labour Party
So instead of running scared from Reform why not take them on over an issue so dear to Farage by putting EU membership, effectively another referendum on Brexit, to the vote? If Burnham and others really do believe we would be better off in the EU they should get out there and campaign for it.
A chance to take on and defeat Reform on such a totemic issue should not be passed by. It is the spectre of a Reform government led by Farage that has, rightly, so spooked Labour MPs and hastened Starmer’s demise given the populist party’s consistent lead in opinion polls.
If a new Prime Minister cannot change that they will be all but surrendering the keys to Number 10 to Farage. Burnham, who proved he could beat Reform so decisively in Makerfield, is best placed to take on that challenge nationally.
Politics aside, the evidence that Brexit has harmed the UK (and the EU) is unmistakeable and mounting. And the benefits of a return are tantalising. Just this week a study commissioned by the campaign group Best for Britain revealed renewed membership of the bloc could add at least £92bn to our economy and boost growth by at least 3.6 per cent. Is it not madness to turn away from that?
It wouldn’t solve all our problems but it would help a new Prime Minister find the extra money for defence we have promised our allies and that we need for our own security. It would also be a sensible repositioning for the UK amid the damage to old alliances and conventions being inflicted by US President Donald Trump.
Another major policy, one that would have almost universal support, is the renationalisation of the water industry and for the Government to take responsibility for cleaning up our rivers and seas.
Concerns about cost can and should be dealt with. If it means divergence from Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules then that’s what it takes. Put our best minds to the wheel. It’s time Government reasserted its authority to lead and deliver.
It can’t be done immediately but setting out a clear strategic vision and objective for water nationalisation with a timescale for delivery will boost confidence, deliver environmental justice, and give voters another thing Burnham trumpets – hope that things can change for the better.
Both these policy announcements would give Burnham the space and opportunity to articulate a vision and a narrative for the future, and a sense of direction, that has been missing for too long.
For inspiration, Burnham, or any other future Labour leader, should look back to arguably the party’s greatest ever Government – the post-war administration of Clement Attlee from 1945. It was bold, brave and radical and changed this country for the better.
More recent Labour history can also be a helpful guide. When the then new Chancellor Gordon Brown walked into the Treasury for the first time after Labour’s historic General Election win in 1997, officials thought they would be merely showing him and his team around. Instead, Brown was armed with a piece of paper listing actions he wanted civil servants to begin working on that day.
That sort of urgency and clarity is needed again now.
Another issue, one very dear to Hull, the new premier should revisit is rail electrification, after the city was inexplicably excluded from a planned £45bn investment in northern railways announced in January.
Questioned about the omission by ITV Calendar, Starmer insisted Hull passengers would benefit – as long as they were “travelling across the Pennines”. It was not an answer that suggested he cared about Hull at all. Burnham, the so-called King of the North, could go some way to remedying that sense of being overlooked and marginalised by adding the city to the scheme.
So if it is to be you Andy, go in with a plan, tell us your vision, and be brave enough to put EU membership back on the ballot. You might be surprised by how much support you get.