Rayner: We’ll ask voters to decide on freedom of movement

Labour will ask voters to decide whether they want a return to freedom of movement, Angela Rayner has said. The Housing Secretary said the Government wanted to have a “conversation” with the public about closer relations with the EU , and said free movement should not be “off the table”. In the clearest hint yet that it could be included in Labour’s next manifesto, she said any changes would be put before the public at the next election. Her comments came after Andy Burnham called for an “honest discussion” about the prospect of readopting the EU’s free movement rules. He said the nature of immigration had changed since Brexit , and told The Sunday Times: “I think you have to have a very factual, quite evidence-based debate about this.” Free movement would allow every EU citizen to move to the UK and vice versa. Withdrawal was a key plank of the successful Leave campaign in 2016. Labour’s 2024 election manifesto ruled out its return, and membership of the EU’s single market or customs union. However, Ms Rayner’s comments indicated that free movement could be “put to the people” at the next election. Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday whether she wanted Britain to return to freedom of movement, 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 reduce by 20 per cent, 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 to have an honest conversation about what the trade-offs could be, and then put that to the people at a general election.” ‘You can’t take anything off the table’ She continued: “The Prime Minister is clear that you can’t take anything off the table when you’re having a conversation. “But the Prime Minister is not saying we’re going back to where we were in 2016. He’s saying we want to be pragmatic to get the best deal for Britain, and he wants to have the conversation.” Speaking to Sky News, Ms Rayner said the Government would discuss its hopes for a closer relationship with the EU at a summit later this year. She said: “In terms of our future relationship with the EU, of course we should be having a conversation and understanding the facts of what could be possible. We’ve been clear on our manifesto. We’re not changing. “We’ve got a summit coming up very soon, and we’ve got a 10-year plan that the Prime Minister is currently in the middle of drafting. He’s saying we should have a conversation about what that means. I think that’s just pragmatism. It’s about saying what is the best deal for Britain.” Sir Jeremy Hunt, a former Conservative chancellor, told the BBC he had been shocked by the Prime Minister’s comments. He said it would allow people from Europe to come to Britain to take new jobs, and would be a “hammer blow to those plans to get people off welfare and into work”. Sir Jeremy argued that it would return Britain to a “divisive debate”, adding: “We have one million people not in employment , education or training. The Government says it is serious about getting them back into work. “To suddenly say you are prepared to negotiate allowing people from all over Europe to come and take those jobs would be a hammer blow to those plans to get people off welfare and into work. “Whatever your views are on the European issue – and I voted Remain – going back to that old model where employers were giving jobs to people from all over Europe and we were parking people on welfare here must be a step back. “When you have to have these big, constitutional debates you have to have an unwritten agreement that you are only going to come back to them once in a generation. Otherwise it is so divisive.” ‘No re-run of Brexit debate’ Mr Burnham’s position on freedom of movement is controversial because during his campaign to win the Makerfield by-election in June, he promised not to “re-run” Brexit arguments and said he was “not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU”. However, in recent months the Prime Minister has spoken about a need for Britain to get closer to the EU and suggested Labour’s next manifesto could include a commitment to a second referendum. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said EU free movement would amount to “handing back control of our borders and allowing uncontrolled migration from across Europe”. He said: “The British people voted to end free movement, and there can be no return to it.” Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, 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.” Lord Walker of Broxton, the Iceland chairman and Labour peer, said it would be a “dangerous precedent” to repeat the debate around Europe, adding that opening the borders would not help “the one million young people that are out of work ”. He told Times Radio: “We’ve been there, done that, and I think that’s a very dangerous precedent. If you don’t like the answer of a referendum to go back and keep asking the same question. What does that mean for Scottish independence, for example? I just do not think we want to reopen those old wounds.” Lord Walker added: “If there’s a million young people out of work, what is it going to do? Opening up our labour markets to the whole of Europe? At Iceland we get 50 applications for every job. It’s tough at the moment finding jobs and I don’t think opening up our borders will do anything to help the one million young people that are out of work.”