Burnham Cabinet divided on Britain’s future in Europe, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s annual foreign policy speech at the Mansion House on Monday will focus heavily on Europe, sandwiched between his attendance at the European Political Community meeting in Dublin and a make-or-break UK-EU summit in Brussels next week.
The twice-delayed summit is set to seal deals on a youth mobility programme, an agrifood agreement and linking emissions markets. Britain is also seeking access to the EU’s “Made in Europe” drive.
A UK Government source said the deal is “95 per cent done”, but one sticking point is cutting university fees for European nationals, which continental leaders want to match the cost of tuition paid by Britons.
“There could be a significant prize next week if we successfully secure practical agreements that make the country better off,” Burnham told his Cabinet on Tuesday, according to the Government’s official readout. On Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions, he said he was focused first on a deal that could add 0.4 per cent to GDP.
“Any growth on that scale is worth taking,” he said.
Both sides are expected to claim victory at the end of next week. Several EU countries still want a final deal on tuition fees before the meeting and want a joint statement with tougher language binding the UK on the issue.
It could be made explicit that the trio of Brexit reset deals cannot be implemented until Burnham agrees to cut fees.
Government insiders, however, argue for a much bigger national conversation about Britain’s future, in which the £580m compensation for the university sector would pale beside the GDP boost that closer alignment could bring. Once the Brexit reset deal is signed, signs suggest the government will go quiet on rejoining, as there is no point discussing Europe’s future until after the French presidential elections in April and May.
A keynote speech on further EU rapprochement, pencilled in for just after the November summit, is now in the “maybe” pile and might not happen, a Cabinet minister told The i Paper. Another government source said Burnham is likely to make lower-key interventions on security and migration before Christmas and into the new year, but will not set out full plans to rejoin the bloc.
Ministers are concerned that far-right National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen is the best-placed presidential candidate to reach the May run-off. The rise of Le Pen in France and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland in Germany has, however, prompted some senior ministers to push for stronger ties to Europe.
“I don’t think we should stand by if and when you start seeing a fascist Europe,” one Cabinet minister said.
Accounts of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting suggest senior ministers are united behind Burnham’s desire to make the Brussels trip a success. “Andy is taking the summit very seriously,” one remarked.
However, the sanitised official readout did not mention a frank exchange of views about what comes next. “Not everyone at Cabinet is on the same page, but then there isn’t a thing to sign up to yet,” a Cabinet minister said, adding there has been no discussion of a future referendum on rejoining the EU.
The Cabinet is split between those who think nothing is off the table in pursuit of economic growth and those wary of reopening old wounds and angering Labour voters in leave-supporting constituencies. Others worry about the cost of unpicking post-Brexit free trade agreements and about business confidence in a period of uncertainty.
Burnham has yet to set out how close he thinks the UK should get to the bloc, although one ally said he believes the UK is “safer, stronger and more prosperous” in Europe. British negotiators have told their European counterparts they will not accept so-called dynamic alignment of UK financial services rules with EU rules in this set of negotiations.
However, joining the single market, as Burnham has said is possible, would almost certainly require signing up to its regulations, a move that could annoy the City after the removal of a cap on bankers’ bonuses.
On Wednesday, the same day MPs debated the financial services bill allowing the City to use post-Brexit regulatory freedoms, a Cabinet minister said, “I don’t think anything’s off the table.” Another said, “We’ve got to look at whether we could remain outside on financial services if we want to get closer.” A third Cabinet minister said, “I don’t have a crystal ball of what our future looks like, but at the moment nothing is off the table.
That could mean fully rejoining or it could look like something else,” adding that not everyone in Cabinet is signed up to it.
That minister said they were personally convinced that moving closer to Europe is needed after geopolitical changes since the 2016 referendum, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump’s insistence that Europe fund its own defence. “Both Russia and the US are making the case we need to be closer to Europe.
We are in a very dangerous world,” the Cabinet minister added.
On Monday, Burnham will address guests in full evening dress in the Mansion House’s Egyptian Hall on foreign policy. Convincing voters in post-industrial areas that voted to leave the EU a decade ago, including Makerfield, of the benefits of closer integration is a long-term aim.
In the meantime, Burnham has to persuade his Cabinet.
