Andy Burnham hits back at David Cameron over criticism of his EU plans

Andy Burnham has rejected David Cameron’s claim that Brexit is not responsible for Britain’s weak economic growth over the past decade. Burnham argues that improving the UK’s working relationship with the EU could support growth, as talks continue ahead of a summit next week.

Cameron said that opening a discussion about rejoining the EU would be “very long and painful”, but Burnham stressed that rejoining is not being proposed. The prime minister is expected to sign agreements on food and farming, emissions trading and youth mobility, which he says could raise GDP by 0.4 per cent; Burnham says a broader deal could be beneficial to both sides and closer to what voters expected in 2016.