Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives have opened the door to closer cooperation with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in an effort to block any attempt by Prime Minister Andy Burnham to take Britain back towards the European Union, signalling that Brexit could become a fresh dividing line in British politics.
Katie Lam, the Conservative shadow communities secretary, said political parties would have to decide “which side they would fall on” if the government pursued a campaign to reverse Britain’s departure from the bloc.
The comments come after Burnham said Britain should consider all options for its long-term relationship with Brussels, including the possibility of rejoining the EU. The prime minister has said he wants an “honest and grown-up conversation” about the country’s future relationship with the bloc rather than leaving the question unanswered.
For the Conservatives, the prospect creates a potentially awkward political calculation. Badenoch has repeatedly resisted suggestions that her party should enter an electoral pact with Reform, which has made opposition to any reversal of Brexit central to its political positioning. Yet Lam’s intervention suggests that the prospect of EU membership could provide common ground between the two parties.
Lam, who campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, argued that returning to the EU would leave Britain facing greater regulation and weaker economic flexibility.
“I think to conclude that, to go back into the EU, which takes us in exactly the wrong direction in terms of regulation, in terms of agility, in terms of spend, I think is completely mad, let alone appallingly undemocratic,” she told the i Paper.
She said the Conservative party was “completely united” against reversing Brexit, arguing that the referendum could not simply be discarded because the political circumstances had changed.
“There is no world in which that is a good idea,” Lam said.
“The referendum was only a decade ago… and what he’s (Burnham) just decided unilaterally, (is) that this doesn’t count any more because he doesn’t like it, I think (is) outrageous.”
The argument marks a significant escalation in the political consequences of Burnham’s decision to reopen the question of Britain’s relationship with the EU.
Labour’s 2024 manifesto explicitly ruled out returning to the EU, the single market or customs union, as well as restoring freedom of movement. Burnham has nevertheless argued that public opinion has shifted since 2016 and that Britain cannot simply exclude itself from discussions about its future relationship with Brussels.
“We look at all options. The speech was about deciding the long-term direction for this country. Where do we want to be in 10 years‘ time?” Burnham said.
“And I don’t think we now can leave that question unanswered.”
He added: “I can’t leave Britain out of those discussions. We do have to have an honest and grown-up conversation about well, what could a future relationship look like?”
The prime minister has stopped short of committing the government to rejoining the EU, presenting membership, closer trading arrangements and maintaining the current relationship as options rather than settled policy.
But the political reaction has already begun to harden.
Graham Stringer, a Labour MP and prominent supporter of Brexit, warned that a gradual move back towards EU structures would create uncertainty rather than resolve it.
“Any talk about going back in now is just signalling to voters who support the EU, but it’s not real politics,” he said.
“I think that trying to sneak back in bit by bit by giving decisions to other countries is a major mistake.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has also warned that reopening the Brexit debate could create economic uncertainty.
For Badenoch, the issue presents a direct test of how the Conservatives position themselves between Labour and Reform. The party is seeking to re-establish itself as a centre-right force while confronting Reform’s challenge on its right flank.
A formal pact remains far from established. But the prospect of Britain rejoining the EU could create an issue on which Conservative and Reform voters overlap, potentially forcing Badenoch to balance her opposition to cooperation with Farage against the electoral consequences of allowing Reform to claim sole ownership of the Brexit question.
Ten years after the referendum, Britain’s EU relationship is therefore returning to the centre of Westminster politics — not as an immediate government policy, but as a faultline that could reshape the next phase of the Conservative opposition and the broader contest over Britain’s political direction.
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