Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said Brexit has not "played out" as promised to the public, has weakened the economy and the current deal is not good enough for Britain, while ruling out any major changes during the current parliament.
Burnham told Good Morning Britain on Monday that Britain ended up with a "harder Brexit than was proposed in the referendum campaign". He said the exit had not helped control the small boats crisis and had actually weakened the UK's ability to manage its borders, since Britain can no longer send people back to Europe. When asked directly whether he wanted Britain to rejoin the EU, Burnham said: "I've said I'm going to be honest and say, in my lifetime I would like to see that happen, but I am not going to move ahead of the public. I am not going to dictate in terms of my own opinions here, you have to make sure that the British public are the bosses." He added: "I am not going to say at the moment that the deal we've got is good enough for Britain. I don't think it is good enough."
Burnham noted that Brexit had weakened both the economy and immigration control, despite immigration being the central issue in the referendum debate. He said the small boats crisis had risen since the referendum and that Britain now has a different form of immigration problem. When asked about 65% of his constituents in Makerfield voting to leave the EU, Burnham said: "I said we wouldn't rerun the referendum and that's not what I'm doing. The British public, the people of Makerfield, will be the bosses here. They will decide what happens in relation to Brexit."
Burnham stressed he would not "move away from the red lines in Labour's manifesto" and said: "I'm not proposing rejoining the EU in this parliament. We're way, way away from that at this particular point in time. What I am saying is we need to take some practical steps to make the arrangement work better." He expressed hope that a UK-EU summit scheduled for 20 November could produce a deal to benefit British food manufacturers, which he said have been hit hard by Brexit.
The prime minister backed the home secretary's controversial plan to require foreign workers to wait 15 years for permanent residency, endorsing the principle that "settlement is a right to be earned not just something that is granted automatically". Burnham also ruled out calling an early general election, saying: "There is no election coming anytime soon. People may well put that out of their mind." On Wednesday's budget, he said it would offer people and businesses "breathing space" and claimed it would give Britain "a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel".
For savers, borrowers and businesses in the UK, Burnham's acknowledgement that Brexit has weakened the economy while ruling out major policy changes suggests economic headwinds are likely to persist without significant new measures this parliament.