Burnham bets that Britain can move past the old Brexit divisions

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, said the challenge of what comes next is complicated by the fact the EU has become a different organization to the one the UK helped form decades ago. A combination of the Covid pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the industrial threat posed by China and President Donald Trump’s global influence have changed the bloc’s fundamental outlook.

He also warned that it would be challenging for Burnham to make any meaningful attempt at reopening talks without being able to prove there was national political backing for doing so.

“The EU would not want the British to reach out [to rejoin] unless there was some sort of national consensus,” Grant said. “It would be a nightmare for the EU to have the British going in and out every five years when new governments are elected.”