Tory Brexit Was 'Harder' Than Promised in Referendum, Burnham Tells Ministers as He Warns Against Speaking Out

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has warned cabinet ministers not to express their opinions about how the government should approach Brexit, arguing that the Conservatives' deal with Brussels was more extreme than the Brexit promised in the 2016 referendum.

In announcements connected to his plan to seek closer links with the EU, Burnham told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the current deal was a bad one, before writing to frontbenchers setting out his hopes to address this.

Brexit was also the main subject of Burnham's exchanges with Kemi Badenoch at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, with the prime minister saying the UK had been 'paralysed' by the lack of a Conservative plan after the vote.

A Downing Street summary of the cabinet meeting put his comments about Brexit above even those concerning the budget, which the chancellor, John Healey, was to deliver soon afterwards.

The Downing Street summary said: 'The prime minister opened by setting out how he would shortly write to cabinet on the UK's relationship with the EU,' adding: 'He said the Brexit deal left by the last government had been bad for the UK and had led to a harder Brexit than had been promised at the referendum.'

The letter to ministers made similar points, and ended with a warning from Burnham that ministers should not individually advocate for specific options or opine on the likely outcome of the process before a review of longer-term options. 'It is important that we remain aligned and disciplined as a government in our messaging throughout this period,' he wrote.

It follows reports that some ministers, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, have worries about a revised deal potentially bringing back free movement of people to and from the EU, something Burnham has talked up as a possibility.

The letter set out Burnham's two-stage approach to reforming Brexit, beginning with initial changes that will stay within Labour's 2024 manifesto—which committed to remaining outside the EU's customs union and single market, and not reinstating freedom of movement. That process will formally kick off when the prime minister attends a European summit next month.

Anything more substantial would need to wait until after the next election, with Burnham saying he wanted a discussion on what this might entail.

In the letter Burnham wrote: 'I am clear in my conviction that the Brexit deal negotiated by the Conservative government was not good enough for Britain. It has led to a decade of low growth, burdened businesses with more red tape and weakened our ability to control immigration. It is a harder Brexit than was promised at the EU referendum.'