Burnham pledges not to rejoin EU, focuses on domestic issues in byelection

Andy Burnham said he will not seek to return the United Kingdom to the European Union, arguing that Britain would remain in a permanent state of stagnation if it continues re-litigating the Brexit debate.

In his first major address since announcing his candidacy for the upcoming byelection, the Greater Manchester mayor vowed to maintain a relentless focus on domestic concerns, particularly in the constituency of Makerfield. “Let’s fix our own country. Let’s get it working again. Let’s get it back to where people want it to be,” he said.

His remarks follow a notable intervention by Wes Streeting, a potential rival for leadership of the Labour Party, who called for the UK to rejoin the EU in his first major statement since resigning as health secretary. Burnham acknowledged the damage caused by Brexit but said, “the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments.”

Burnham said he intends to use the byelection campaign to shine a national spotlight on Makerfield and the broader northwest region, framing his challenge against the Reform Party as a contest over what concrete improvements can be delivered for such communities.

“I want to say sorry to the residents of the Makerfield constituency, for the circus that is about to arrive in town and some of the inconvenience they will experience as a result,” Burnham said, adding: “I hope you feel it’s a good thing as well, that the places that make up this constituency, long forgotten by national politics, finally are at the centre of the national debate.”

He argued that similar towns across the country could see themselves in Makerfield’s story and that the election could put such areas at the top of the national agenda for the first time in decades.

“Let’s get them at the top of the agenda for the first time in a very long time. And that’s what this byelection will hopefully succeed in doing. My plan for Makerfield will be ambitious and it will show how we lift up its people and places over the next decade,” he said.

Burnham asserted that places like Makerfield have been failed by national policy for 40 years, pointing to the deindustrialization of the 1980s followed by deregulation, privatization, and austerity.

“It all adds up to 40 years of neoliberalism that have not been kind to the north of England,” he said. “Forty years of trickle-down economics that did not, in the end, trickle down very much at all to places like Platt Bridge or Hindley. In fact, that system has siphoned wealth out of those places and into the hands of people for whom life was already very good.”

He described the byelection as necessary for sparking a broader debate about reforming politics to serve northern England properly. “People are losing faith in politics,” Burnham said.

The mayor’s comments underscore a deepening divide within Labour over the Brexit legacy, even as he seeks to refocus the political conversation on economic revival and regional inequality.