Lisa Nandy wary of "circular arguments" about rejoining EU, backs closer ties

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy wants to avoid "circular arguments" about whether the UK should rejoin the EU. But she believes the prime minister should still pursue closer ties to fulfil the promises made at the time of the referendum. Her remarks underline divisions at the top of government over revisiting Brexit.

Nandy, one of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's cabinet ministers, said she was among the ministers concerned about Burnham's plan for an "honest conversation" with the public about Brexit. They fear it could reopen an old row that would only benefit Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Nandy said, "I do not believe that anybody wants to repeat circular arguments about in or out, leave or remain. I do think, though, that over the last decade we have let the British people down very badly."

Nandy is the MP for Wigan, a seat that voted overwhelmingly for leave in 2016. She is one of the most cautious in the cabinet about reversing Brexit. Asked if she wanted to go back in, she replied, "I don't know if that's a choice we have."

However, she conceded that Burnham was trying to address the failings of the Brexit deal. She told Sky News it was important to "be honest" and highlight that "the deal that we got is not what we were promised".

The culture secretary stressed there were "trade-offs and choices" to be made, which involved a conversation with people across the country — an indication that Brexit would be a key theme of the next election campaign.

Burnham will attend the European Political Community summit in Dublin on Thursday. Downing Street sources said he would use it to get Labour's reset deal over the line and to meet many European leaders for the first time.

In private, EU counterparts will be expecting Burnham to set out his ambitions for further integration after he announced his intention to move beyond Labour's "red lines" on the bloc after the next election.

At a Brexit reset meeting on 20 November in Brussels, agreements on agriculture and food, emissions trading and youth experience visas are expected to be confirmed.

Burnham said at the weekend there was more to come. "This summit will show what we can achieve when we work together, but it doesn't need to be the end of our ambition," he told the Sunday Mirror.

Officials will also discuss the agenda for the next round of the reset, which could include another attempt for the UK to join the EU's 150 billion euro (125 billion pound) SAFE defence fund, collaboration on law enforcement and borders, and visas for touring artists.

Soon after the Brussels summit, Burnham is expected to give a speech setting out options for a closer relationship with the EU, arguing it would be in the UK's long-term interest. No 10 sources said he wanted to "frame the conversation, not go straight to the endgame" before testing public opinion.

Senior government figures say Burnham wants a mandate to start negotiations with the EU in Labour's next election manifesto, but that any subsequent referendum would be solely confirmatory. "You can't ask people to vote on an undefined plan like in 2016. That was David Cameron's mistake," one said.

However, Burnham has faced reservations from others within his cabinet. The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, and home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, are cautious about pushing to fully rejoin.

The EU's former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said London could not have the "single market a la carte" by cherrypicking which of the four freedoms — including freedom of movement — it would like in future negotiations. "There is no cherrypicking. There will be no possibility to have one freedom and not the other," he told the BBC.

Meanwhile, Nandy was forced to reject allegations that celebrating the UK rejoining the Erasmus Plus scheme by linking it to Remembrance Sunday was inappropriate, after suggesting it would help to honour "the immense courage of those who served our country".

Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory chair, suggested she was using the national civic occasion to "try to make an EU membership pitch". He said: "Our veterans did not fight for a student exchange scheme."

Speaking on Sky News, Nandy responded: "They are the only party that is talking about Brexit and the EU. What we are announcing this weekend is that we're going to widen the Erasmus scheme." She added: "I cannot see what is political about saying that we want young people from every part of this country to understand the contribution that their grandparents and great-grandparents made, not just to us but to many, many lives of people that they had never met."