Rayner puts free movement back on the table with Brussels

Angela Rayner has declared that nothing should be off the table in talks with the European Union, backing calls for an “honest discussion” that could reopen free movement with the bloc.

The Housing Secretary, speaking in support of Andy Burnham ahead of a summit with the EU next month, told the BBC that Britain “haven’t got the best deal” at the moment and must examine every option to improve it. “We have to go forwards, and therefore you have to look at what that future relationship will look like,” she said. “I want to see the best deal for the people of my constituency and for Britain. We haven’t got the best deal at the moment because we’ve seen exports reduced by 20%, we’ve seen the red tape and the friction that has meant that a lot of our businesses are not able to trade in the way that they would like with our biggest trading partners. So, I would like us to have an honest conversation about what the trade-offs could be and then put that to the people at a general election.”

That is the plain meaning of her words. After the country voted to leave, a senior Labour minister is now treating the settlement as unfinished business and inviting Brussels back into the room on terms that once again include free movement.

Britain voted in 2016 by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the European Union. Voters expected control of borders, laws and trade to stay in this country. Reopening free movement is not a technical tweak. It is a direct challenge to that decision, dressed up as pragmatism about exports and red tape.

Farage hits out at the betrayal

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, tore into the direction of travel after Burnham spoke of an honest discussion on rejoining the European Union, the single market and free movement. Farage labelled the Prime Minister “deluded” and said: “This is a total betrayal of Brexit Britain and his Makerfield pitch. He is also deluded to say immigration was different when we were members of the EU. We will fight this dishonesty.”

Burnham had argued that the balance of migration had changed since the referendum and that the country must face those facts. He won Makerfield in a June by-election after promising not to “re-run” Brexit arguments in a seat that voted to leave. Rayner’s intervention now puts the Housing Secretary squarely behind the same open-ended approach to the EU relationship.

The i Paper reported her remarks alongside Burnham’s call for candour before the summit. Senior pro-Europe Labour figures have already warned against rushing any commitment to rejoin, fearing another bruising public fight. That caution does not erase what Rayner put on the record: every option remains live, including the trade-offs the public was told had been settled.

Sovereignty is not a bargaining chip

Exports and paperwork matter to firms. They do not require the return of free movement or the slow unpicking of Brexit. A government that truly served British workers would cut domestic friction, back competitive industry and keep border control in British hands rather than floating concessions to Brussels in the name of an improved deal.

Rayner wants the conversation put to the people at a general election. Fair enough. The country already answered once. Reform UK has made clear it will contest any attempt to reverse that verdict. Labour’s willingness to place free movement back among the living options tells voters exactly how lightly some in power still treat the instruction they were given.

The summit next month will test whether this talk hardens into policy. For now the Housing Secretary has said the quiet part out loud: nothing is off the table. Britain should treat that statement with the seriousness it deserves and insist that sovereignty, once restored, is not traded away again.

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Original source: The i Paper

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