Andy Burnham is set to use a Commons address today to press MPs to back a fresh push for a new deal with the European Union, warning that failing to do so would be a “dereliction of duty”.
In his statement to the House of Commons, the UK Prime Minister is expected to echo remarks he made at the Labour Party conference, where he argued Brexit has done “more harm than good”.
Mr Burnham will urge politicians across the chamber to support the Government’s strategy of pursuing a closer relationship with the EU, saying it could help the UK better manage immigration and drive economic growth.
A No 10 source said: “Andy understands why some politicians don’t want to face up to the reality that Brexit has not delivered what they once promised.
“But it is time for a different conversation about what our long-term relationship should be.
“Sticking with the status quo and not working relentlessly to secure a good deal that boosts growth would be a major dereliction of duty.”
At Labour’s conference in Liverpool last month, Mr Burnham said he would lay out the “options” for Britain’s long-term relationship with Europe around the time of a UK-EU summit expected at the end of the year.
He has also indicated those options could stretch as far as rejoining the bloc.
Before the Prime Minister’s Commons appearance, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey stepped up calls for a bolder approach, urging Mr Burnham to scrap Labour’s “red lines” that rule out rejoining the European customs union or single market.
He said: “We are willing to engage with anyone who shares our vision of fixing the broken relationship with Europe so we can strengthen Britain’s economy and defences.
“Every day and month we delay starting serious talks with the EU, we do more damage to our economy.
“Let’s restore our trading links, tear down new barriers like Made in Europe and give our economy the growth and jobs boost businesses and people are crying out for.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, however, launched an attack on the Prime Minister, calling Mr Burnham “a liar” at a press conference in Hythe and insisting: “There was no Russian interference, and the Russia hoax has run all the way through this.”
The clash follows comments Mr Burnham made in a podcast interview a day earlier, when he said it was “clear” Russia had interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast, he argued the UK and its allies had been “too much on the back foot” in confronting Russian interference and “haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas”.
But on Monday, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told Times Radio he would not set out details of what form any Russian interference took in 2016, or whether it had achieved its aims.
He said: “I’m not going to get into the specifics of Russia’s actions against the UK, but what is clear is that Russia is attempting to interfere in democratic processes, not just in the UK but across Europe.”
Mr Doughty said Russia was spending £1.5 billion on disinformation this year and argued the UK needed a “whole of society effort” to meet what he described as a threat to British democracy.
Pressed on whether interference could have altered the 2016 referendum outcome, he said: “The result is the result, and I think the Prime Minister has been very clear that he’s talking about attempts to interfere.
“The security minister has spoken about this before. I’m confident that both the British people and the British state are able to respond to and defend against these types of threats, but we need to be very honest that those threats exist.”
Later, speaking to LBC, Mr Doughty said he did not believe Russia’s attempts to interfere in the referendum had been successful.
