STORY
Ed Davey has challenged Andy Burnham to support an amendment calling for the UK to rejoin the single market. The Liberal Democrat leader made the intervention on the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum, saying Burnham should move beyond what he described as the Government’s timidity over Europe.
The Liberal Democrats said the referendum anniversary marked a lost decade for living standards and economic performance. Davey also linked the argument to Nigel Farage, referring to the £5 million gift that Farage has said was a personal reward for his role in delivering Brexit.
The party is seeking to use the Labour leadership transition to press for a more explicit shift in UK-EU policy. Burnham has previously presented himself as a politician able to appeal beyond Labour’s existing base, but any move towards single market membership would be politically contested inside Labour and among opposition parties.