Andy Burnham launched a rare personal attack on Nigel Farage as he tore into Brexit ‘lies’ over migration and accused the Reform UK chief of giving Britain a ‘decade of division and drift’
Nigel Farage is ‘very significantly responsible’ for Britain’s failure to move forward in the past 10 years, Andy Burnham said(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Andy Burnham has said he holds Nigel Farage “very significantly responsible” for Britain’s failure to move forward in the last decade.
In a rare personal attack on the Reform UK chief, he tore into Brexit “lies” and questioned whether Mr Farage still has the appetite to lead. The Prime Minister accused him of giving Britain “a decade of division and drift” – and accused Russia of interfering with the 2016 referendum.
In an interview with The Rest is Politics podcast, Mr Burnham signalled he is open to joining a migration pact with the European Union, saying the UK’s ability to control its borders was weakened when it left the bloc.
Mr Burnham said: “I don’t know whether Nigel Farage has got the appetite that he once had. We will see. I certainly wouldn’t be one of those who would write him off. I think people have done that before at their peril.”
But he added: “He’s (Nigel Farage) given Britain a decade of division and drift. I would hold him very significantly responsible for our failure to move forward in the last decade.”
Later this year the PM will hold a crunch summit with European leaders about ways of bringing Britain closer to its neighbours.
He said: “I’m going to go into that process very clear with people that Brexit has done more harm than good to UK growth, particularly, but to other things as well. And I’m going to argue for closer integration, because that will enable us to improve the growth prospects of the country.”
And he said that control over Britain’s borders was one of the biggest lies of the Brexit campaign as he left the door open to a new returns deal. This month Keir Starmer’s one-in-one-out migrant deal with France came to an end, but he faces pressure to strike a similar agreement with the EU as a whole.
He said: “There’s also a discussion looming at the summit about collaboration on immigration. One of the big, big lies of the campaign back in 2016 is that we would ‘take back control’ of all of that, and it would all be much easier.
“The reality is you need collaboration to control immigration, and that’s got weaker.” The UK lost legal powers to return failed asylum seekers to Europe when it left.
Mr Burnham accused Russia of influencing the 2016 referendum, telling hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart: “I asked the question coming to Downing Street, was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?
“And I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was. I mean, these things are important now to put clearly on the record, and I believe, help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia.
“And, I think we’ve been too much on the back foot on that, actually. And we haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas.”
Since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Burnham has said he is taking a fresh view of the UK’s relationship with the EU – and last month said Britain could “go all the way” and rejoin.
In an interview with the BBC following his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference, he said: “We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay. We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market or we could go all the way.”
