Burnham to urge UK MPs to support drive for closer EU relationship

(Alliance News) - Andy Burnham will tell MPs it would be a "dereliction of duty" not to seek a new deal with the EU.

In a House of Commons address on Monday, the prime minister is expected to reiterate his argument from the Labour Party conference that Brexit has done "more harm than good".

He will call on all parties to support the government's approach in seeking a closer relationship with the EU, arguing such a move could help control immigration and boost 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 the Labour conference in Liverpool last month, Burnham said he would set out the "options" for Britain's long-term relationship with Europe around the time of a UK-EU summit planned for the end of the year.

He has suggested that those options could include rejoining the bloc.

Ahead of the statement, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said Burnham should drop Labour's "red lines" ruling 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."

But Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called Burnham "a liar", telling a press conference in Hythe: "There was no Russian interference, and the Russia hoax has run all the way through this."

The prime minister's Commons statement comes a day after he told a podcast interview it was "clear" that Russia had interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

He told The Rest Is Politics podcast that the UK and its allies had been "too much on the back foot" when 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 speaking to Times Radio on Monday, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty declined to provide details of what form Russian interference took in 2016 and whether it had been successful.

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."

Doughty added that Russia was spending GBP1.5 billion on disinformation this year and called for a "whole of society effort" to respond to the threat Moscow poses to British democracy.

Asked whether interference could have changed the result of the 2016 referendum, 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, Doughty told LBC he did not think Russia's attempts to interfere in the referendum had been successful.

By Christopher McKeon, Press Association Political Correspondent

source: PA

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