The UK government faces a number of challenges on its way to rejoining the European Union - BBC.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is trying to make the review of relations with the European Union one of the main issues on his political agenda. Almost seven years after the country's final exit from the European Union, he proposes to re-discuss the consequences of Brexit and examines options for closer integration - including a return to the single market or full membership of the Union. Burnham hopes that a change in economic circumstances and the disappointment of some Britons with the results of Brexit will help create a public consensus in favor of getting closer to Europe. However, so far his initiative looks more like an attempt to open a political debate than the presence of a real action plan: the prime minister promises to present options for long-term relations with the European Union, but postpones concrete decisions at least until the next parliamentary elections.
The main obstacle is that London and Brussels have different ideas about the cost of such rapprochement. The EU's former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has already warned that Britain will not be able to return to the single market under the principle of selective participation: an approach that requires respecting all four freedoms, including the freedom of movement of people. This is a particularly sensitive issue for British politics, as immigration has been one of the main arguments of supporters of leaving the European Union. Burnham has already been forced to clarify that he is not proposing an immediate return to free movement, and his predecessor and the Labor Party specifically ruled out a return to the customs union and the single market in the current parliamentary term in the 2024 election platform. The internal state of the party also creates additional complexity: some ministers fear that the talk of fixing Brexit will not unite society but will strengthen the position of Eurosceptics and the Reform Party in Britain.