Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said on Monday he was not proposing that Britain consider rejoining the European Union and that he respected the decision of a referendum nearly ten years ago to leave the trading bloc.
Burnham, who has positioned himself as a leadership rival to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said: “I’m not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made with the referendum.”
“My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments,” he said at an investment summit in the northern English city of Leeds.
“Britain will be stuck in a permanent rut if we’re just constantly arguing and people are pulling away from each other.”
One of Burnham’s potential rivals in any leadership contest, former health minister Wes Streeting, has forced Brexit up the agenda, saying on Saturday that Britain’s future lay with Europe and “one day” back in the European Union.
(Reporting by William James）
