Labour leadership contender distances himself from previous calls following backlash

Andy Burnham has distanced himself from calls to rejoin the European Union following a backlash that threatens to derail his by-election campaign.

The Labour leadership contender has previously said that, in the long term, he wants to see Britain return to the EU, and at the weekend his allies suggested he stood by this.

Reform seized on the comments on Saturday to say it would make the by-election, expected to be held on June 18, effectively a referendum on Brexit.

On Sunday, a spokesman for the Mayor of Greater Manchester insisted Mr Burnham would be campaigning on local issues and would not be standing on a “national manifesto”.

“Andy is fully focused on working hard for every vote in Makerfield so he can represent them in Parliament,” she said.

“Andy is not standing on a national manifesto at this election; he is standing to make a difference for the people of Makerfield and to bring the change he has delivered in Greater Manchester to the national stage.”

The Telegraph understands this means he will not campaign on reversing Brexit in Makerfield, a seat in the North West of England that voted heavily to leave in 2016.

This comes despite him saying last year: “I hope in my lifetime I see this country rejoin the European Union.”

Mr Burnham’s change of position comes a day after Wes Streeting, the other major potential leadership candidate, put the EU at the forefront of his campaign by saying he wanted to rejoin.

In a speech on Saturday, Mr Streeting said: “The biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep. We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future lies with Europe – and one day back in the European Union.”

The former health secretary’s comments were seen by some as a way to destabilise Mr Burnham’s campaign and make it harder for him to win in Makerfield by reminding voters that he, too, is a supporter of rejoining the EU.

On Sunday morning, Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, criticised Mr Streeting for “reopening the Brexit wars”.

“I actually think this is just a bit odd,” she told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. “I listened to what Wes had to say very carefully yesterday, and I know that he’s got a strong view about this, and always has had, that we shouldn’t have left the European Union…

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“I don’t really understand why the sudden focus on Europe.”

She said on Sky News that the Government had been “trying to take a far more pragmatic approach to bringing us closer to Europe and repairing some of the damage that was done from a poor Brexit deal to people’s living standards in parts of the country like mine, rather than reopening the Brexit wars”.

Reform UK is expected to make “Brexit betrayal” one of its key attack lines in Makerfield and will highlight Mr Burnham’s previous comments on its leaflets.

On Sunday, Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, told The Telegraph: “‘Open borders Burnham’ wants to give 500 million people the right to move here without any thought on how this would affect schools, doctors and dentists.

“It’s quite clear that this by-election is now a choice between Reform, who want to stay outside of the EU, control immigration and deport all illegals, and Labour, who want to rejoin the EU and open the borders.”

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said the calls to rejoin the EU showed that Labour “does not have a plan for this country”.

“The country wants us to make the best of Brexit, make the best of leaving the EU. The idea of starting again, going backwards, having all of these negotiations – this is a sign of a Labour Party that does not have a plan for the country,” she said.

“So they want to go back and re-fight wars which were settled a long time ago.”

Burnham ‘will lose’ unless he embraces Brexit

Lord Glasman, founder of the influential Blue Labour movement, said on Sunday that Mr Burnham would lose the Makerfield by-election unless he showed voters that he “grasps the positive benefits of Brexit”.

“He’s got to come out and say the future of our country is as a sovereign nation state, that we will renew our defence and our industry,” he said.

“If Andy Burnham doesn’t grasp the positive benefits of Brexit, he will lose. This isn’t Manchester he’s standing in: it’s Wigan. It is a 65 per cent Brexit seat.

“He has the future of the Labour Party in the palm of his hand. Labour has got to be a patriotic, sovereigntist party if it is to reconnect with working-class voters.”

The Labour leadership contenders

Dan Carden, who leads the Blue Labour caucus in Parliament, said: “I don’t think they want to hear they were wrong to vote for Brexit.

“They want to be proud and confident of Britain’s place in the world, and ability to succeed. And they don’t think the Labour Party is any more.

“I’m confident he’ll go to Makerfield and do what he does best – listen to people and mean it. These are working-class communities, they don’t want to be managed by the political class, they want to be put back in control.

“This by-election is their chance, and Andy’s chance to show that Labour is still their party. It’s make or break, not just for this seat, but for Labour’s relationship with the people we exist to represent.”

One ally of Mr Burnham said he faced a “perilous” race to win the seat, where Reform won more than half the vote in the recent local elections.

“It’s impossible to underscore how perilous this is,” the ally told the Guardian. “I would give Andy a 45 per cent chance of winning, maybe a bit more than that.

“It’s compelling to tell progressive voters to vote for Andy to get [Sir Keir] Starmer out, but the flip side is you’re saying to Reform voters that if they vote Reform, they can finish the Labour Party off for good.”

Luke Tryl, director of the research group More in Common, said: “We have two amazing forces playing against each other – the demographics of the seat, which all point to a Reform win, versus Burnham’s personal factor.

“It makes the result really consequential. If Labour can’t win, they may as well pack up and go home. If they do win, all bets are off in terms of the Prime Minister’s future.”

Mr Burnham’s stance on the EU is not the only issue on which he faced criticism on Sunday.

Maggie Oliver, a former detective constable who blew the whistle on her force’s handling of a child sex abuse ring in Rochdale, said Mr Burnham had failed to “grasp the nettle” when dealing with reports into grooming gangs.

As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham oversaw a series of reviews that exposed institutional failings over the handling of historical child sexual abuse allegations.

The first three reviews were carried out by two independent reviewers over a period of seven years. However, they were stood down from the final assurance review, published last year, which was instead carried out by police from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Speaking to Times Radio, Ms Oliver said Mr Burnham had failed to “grasp the nettle in relation to that final part of the review”.