Should freedom of movement with the EU stay ruled out, even if it limits closer trade with Europe?
Free movement between the UK and EU ended after Brexit, and Labour's 2024 manifesto ruled out its return, along with the single market and customs union. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in October 2026 that he wants an "honest discussion" on freedom of movement as part of a wider reset, though any fundamental change is expected to wait until after the next general election. A UK-EU summit is planned for 20 November 2026, expected to cover food standards, emissions trading and a capped youth experience scheme. The EU treats free movement as a condition of single market membership.
5 Opinions
Immigration is too great a problem to allow unfettered access, the cost of preventing this is not allowing free movement
Freedom of movement is an agreement between EU members. We're not in the EU!
Burnham seems to be planning to put rejoining the EU (or doing so in all but name) on the ballot for an early election, in the hope of uniting leftist voters behind Labour and tearing them away from the greens and Lib Dems. The country has firmly rejected EU membership and freedom of movement. Rightly, the people support strong borders. Does anyone want the rioting scum in France to be free to move here without any restrictions?
Free movement and rejoining the EU would actually fix two major problems that the UK has right now — seasonal workers for farms and overwhelming numbers of asylum seekers. As an EU member, we have every right to return asylum seekers to the first EU member state that they entered, regardless of where they're from. That's why boat crossings have increased from basically non-existent pre-brexit to tens of thousands a year post-brexit. Seasonal farm workers is self-explanatory