BRITISH Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants to discuss a possible return to the European Union’s freedom of movement rules for workers, addressing one of the key issues of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Burnham has said he wants to rethink Britain’s ties with Brussels, saying the influx of EU workers before Brexit posed significant challenges, but that it ‘was a type of immigration that perhaps wasn’t as difficult as now’, he told The Sunday Times.
The Prime Minister said Britain needs to have an ‘honest discussion’ about how immigration to the country has changed since Brexit.
The discussion comes as Britain’s long-term net migration has fallen sharply. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net migration fell from 331,000 in 2024 to 171,000 in 2025.
Burnham told The Sunday Times he wants freedom of movement to be considered as part of a wider reset of the UK’s relationship with the EU, with data sharing and migration among the key topics.
He said the issue should be considered alongside wider cooperation with Brussels, including access to European migration data-sharing systems.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, called Burnham’s comments a ‘total betrayal of Brexit Britain’.
While speculations deepened, Downstreet has since clarified that Burnham is not proposing an immediate return to freedom of movement, nor is he backing any specific option for Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
The government said the focus for now is on practical agreements, any long-term changes need to be decided by the British public
The comments come ahead of a UK-EU summit scheduled for November 20, where closer cooperation between Britain and the bloc is expected to be discussed.
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