Andy Burnham has said it’s “possible” Labour’s next election manifesto could include an in-out referendum on rejoining the EU in his strongest signal yet of his intentions to repair the damage of Brexit.

The prime minister told ITV News that securing closer ties to the EU “isn’t about leaping to a referendum”, but he said, if public opinion was “pointing towards” backing re-entry, he could commit to holding a vote on the issue in the next manifesto.

He also declined to rule out skipping a referendum and fighting the next general election on a promise to rejoin.

His comments come as the leaders of France and Spain backed Britain returning to the European Union on Wednesday. French president Emmanuel Macron said it would ⁠be “excellent ​news’ ⁠and “a good decision” ⁠if Britain decided to rejoin, while Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said Britain would be welcome back to the EU "with ⁠open arms". 

Earlier, Mr Burnham said he was open to reversing Brexit, insisting he could go “all the way” in proposing to rejoin the bloc.

Before entering Downing Street, Mr Burnham had said he wanted to see the UK back in the EU within his lifetime.

Asked on Sky News whether he stood by that, he said: “I said in my lifetime and I’ve said that I’m not going to pull back from that.”

The prime minister, who has blamed Brexit for a decade of drift and division, has declared it was “not good enough” simply to leave the issue “hanging” and vowed to look at the “pros and cons” of all options regarding the UK’s future relationship with Brussels. One of the options was to “go all the way” and resume full membership, he told the BBC’s programme.

Mr Macron welcomed Mr Burnham’s comments but warned there would be no ​halfway house ⁠on membership requirements.

“As for Great Britain, when it wants to re-engage with us, being on the outside poses a problem: you cannot pick and choose among the union’s freedoms, nor can you decide to take only what suits you while rejecting the rest,’ he cautioned in a joint press conference with Mr Sanchez on Wednesday.

Former EU Brexit officials have previously warned that the UK would not enjoy “exceptional” terms if it decided to rejoin the EU.

While the EU has been clear that the UK would be allowed to rejoin should it want to, it is unlikely it would be allowed to on the same terms it had before.

The UK could have to join the Euro if it wanted to return, join the Schengen passport-free zone, and it would be unlikely to get the rebate it negotiated previously.

The rebate was a financial mechanism negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, reducing Britain’s EU budget contribution by around 66 per cent.

In his first Labour Party conference speech as leader, the prime minister said Britain’s decision to leave the EU had done “more harm than good” and he promised to set out the options to the country around the time of a UK-EU summit later this year.

Labour’s election manifesto in 2024 ruled out joining a customs union, going back into the single market or allowing the return of freedom of movement with the EU.

Mr Burnham previously said he would stick to Labour’s so-called Brexit “red lines” but has since indicated he is prepared to recommend going beyond them in future.

“There are clearly options that need to be considered, and we have to look at what is doable and what would be the pros and cons of each,” he told the BBC.

Mr Burnham said another possibility was to back the call by former Tory Chancellor George Osborne to rejoin the EU customs union – made during an interview with earlier this month.

“We could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay,” he told the programme.

“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.”

Mr Osborne told that Brexit “has been a mess” and that while returning to the EU would be difficult, rejoining the customs union would help alleviate some of the pressure on the UK economy.

Mr Burnham’s move was immediately criticised by the Conservatives who accused him of trying to “reopen old wounds by restarting the battles of the Brexit years.”

Former Tory cabinet minister Michael Gove, who led the campaign to leave the EU alongside former PM Boris Johnson, said going back on Brexit would “drive frustration” among the public with British politicians because it would mean returning power over key policy decisions to Brussels.

Mr Burnham’s comments follow a series of opinion polls on the issue in the past 12 months, which suggest voters believe Brexit has not worked and that a second referendum could result in a vote to rejoin.

Even half of Reform backers agree that Britain should have closer ties with the EU, according to a new poll by Public First for , which found that seven in 10 voters want the government to build a closer relationship with Brussels.

has led the campaign for Britain to rebuild its relationship with Brussels on the basis of clear evidence that it has damaged the economy and failed to deliver promised benefits on a wide range of issues including immigration.

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