by Martin Banks
The outgoing mayor of Manchester will be confirmed as Keir Starmer’s successor at a special party conference in central London later on Friday (17 July).
He replaces Sir Keir Starmer who spent just two years in office.
This site canvassed opinion on what is a momentous day in British politics from leading EU political figures and commentators - and what it may mean for UK relations with the 27-strong bloc.
German MEP David McAllister, who chairs the EU parliament’s influential foreign affairs committee, told this site, “The overall direction of EU–UK relations has been positive in recent years.
“Both sides have steadily rebuilt trust and strengthened their partnership through the Withdrawal Agreement, the Windsor Framework, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the EU–UK Summit.”
The centre right deputy added, “The European Union is committed to cooperation where there is a clear mutual benefit – in security, defence, trade, people-to-people relations or other areas of shared interest.
“With a new UK government taking office, there are still unresolved issues regarding exact priorities and the composition of the Cabinet. It is too early to draw conclusions about the future approach in London. Once there is greater clarity and concrete proposals emerge, they can and will be assessed on their merits. In the meantime, the focus should remain on building on the progress already achieved."
Further comment comes from Paul Taylor, senior visiting fellow on defence and security at the European Policy Centre, a leading Brussels-based think tank.
Taylor said, “Andy Burnham takes office with an opportunity to review Labour’s red lines on relations with the EU (no single market, no customs union, no freedom of movement) and pursue a more ambitious rapprochement with the EU.
“The geopolitical case is compelling with Putin threatening Europe and Trump seeking to disengage the US from European security and undercutting European values of liberal democracy, rule of law and tolerance.
“He should continue Keir Starmer’s admirably firm bipartisan line in support of Ukraine while exploiting other opportunities to build a European defence leadership around the Coalition of the Willing in cooperation with the EU.”
Taylor went on. “Burnham must realise that Labour is not going to win the next general election as a half-way house party that is still afraid of upsetting Brexit voters. Labour is bleeding pro-European voters to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, and bleeding Brexit voters to Reform. He can start to reverse those losses if he forthrightly proclaims Labour to be the pragmatic pro-European force that can deliver economic and political benefits of closer relations with the EU without being hung-up by decade-old taboos. Hard-core Eurosceptics won’t vote Labour anyway.”
He said, “There are some indications that Burnham gets this, but it is understandably not his top priority. He needs to find a way of linking kick-starting the economy with closer cooperation with Europe. The first area may be in defence industrial cooperation, joining a followup to the EU’s SAFE joint procurement fund. Another way is by pursuing a much more ambitious youth experience programme without quotas or prohibitive tuition fees.
“Burnham may feel that a full renunciation of Labour’s red lines needs a national democratic mandate at the next general election, but he should start making the case now as to why the UK would be better off in the single market, in preparation for the party’s next manifesto.”
Elsewhere, Dr Denis MacShane, a former Europe Minister in the UK under Tony Blair, told this site, “Starmer’s problem is he is not a politician with the years of experience a Blair or a Thatcher had to avoid making first grade mistakes
“Burnham is a proper politician with long ecoereience as MP, minister, now Mayor of Manchester.He speaks Spanish and his lovely wife Frankie has fluent French.
“They’ve been together since Cambridge and he is by far the most Europe aware PM we have ever had in UK.”
Former UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett addressed the idea that Burnham has to call an election in order to validate his new position as PM.
Corbett said, “Of the 18 Prime Ministers since World War 2, most (11) came to the office mid term in a parliament. Only 8 became PM following a general election.
“That’s because Britain doesn’t have a presidential system, but a parliamentary one. It is the team which secures a majority in parliament that forms a government and that team is free to change captain if it wants.
“9 of the 11 times this has happened and it’s been the Conservatives who did it, so their complaints are rank hypocrisy," said Corbett, who is a constitutional expert.
By: N. Peter Kramer