Senior cabinet ministers have backed Andy Burnham’s call for a debate on whether the UK should return to free movement with the European Union, a move that has exposed a rift with Labour MPs representing so-called “red wall” seats that voted to leave the bloc in 2016.
The prime minister made his plea for an “honest discussion” about freedom of movement in an interview with the Sunday Times. In it, he made clear that ruling out free movement would no longer be a red line in any future talks with the EU. The Guardian reports that the proposal drew support from Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband, while business leaders also welcomed the prospect of a more open debate on the issue.
Rayner went further in her remarks, according to The Telegraph, saying that voters should be asked to decide on freedom of movement directly. The position places the question with the public rather than leaving it to ministers and negotiators alone, and it signals that the government may be willing to test the issue at the ballot box if it moves towards a deal that restores free movement.
The BBC also reported Burnham’s openness to such a discussion, setting it against the government’s wider approach to relations with Brussels. Free movement, which allowed citizens of EU member states to live and work in the UK and British citizens to do the same in the EU, ended after Brexit, and it has been one of the most contested elements of the country’s departure from the bloc.
Some Labour MPs from red wall constituencies have expressed concern that reopening the question could jeopardise seats that backed Brexit. Their unease reflects a long-running tension within the party between voters who want closer ties with the EU and those in former industrial areas who supported leaving. For those MPs, the political risk lies in being seen to revisit a settlement that many constituents regard as settled.
The debate comes as the government weighs how far it is willing to go in renegotiating its relationship with the EU. Whether free movement becomes a formal part of that discussion, and how any proposal would be put to voters, remains unresolved. Ministers have signalled that the conversation is at an early stage, and no formal negotiating position has yet been set out.