Boris Johnson has accused incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham of laying the groundwork to restore freedom of movement, arguing that Labour’s planned reset with the European Union could gradually reverse key elements of Brexit.
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the former Conservative Prime Minister claimed Burnham’s efforts to strengthen ties with Brussels would begin with limited measures, such as expanding opportunities for students and young people, before evolving into wider changes to immigration policy.
“They’ll start with students and all that nonsense, and then it’ll become absolutely unstoppable,” Johnson said.
Burnham is expected to revive plans for a UK-EU summit later this year after Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation delayed negotiations on a closer post-Brexit relationship.
The incoming Prime Minister has indicated he wants to build stronger links with the bloc, including exploring a youth mobility scheme that would allow young Britons and EU citizens to live and work more easily in each other’s countries.
Johnson argued such proposals could become the first step towards restoring free movement, one of the central issues settled by the 2016 Brexit referendum.
He insisted he was not opposed to immigration but said the public wanted greater democratic control over who enters the country.
The former Prime Minister also called for stronger efforts to ensure migrants integrate into British society, arguing governments had failed to insist on shared values and language skills.
Burnham has not proposed restoring freedom of movement and has instead framed closer cooperation with the EU as a way to boost trade, investment and opportunities for young people while remaining outside the bloc.
Nevertheless, Johnson’s intervention highlights how relations with Brussels are likely to become one of the first major political battlegrounds facing the new Prime Minister as he seeks to redefine Britain’s post-Brexit relationship without reopening the referendum divide.
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