---
title: Burnham Puts Free Movement Back on the Table Four Weeks Before His First EU Summit
description: Andy Burnham says the UK should discuss a return to EU free movement before the 20th November Brussels summit. What it would mean for rejoining.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-26T07:38:40.839Z
updated: 2026-10-26T07:39:47.005Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/burnham-eu-free-movement-summit
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/unsplash-yxdhnewz3vk.webp
categories: Politics, EU Focus
content_type: News
region: United Kingdom
publication: Sovereign Magazine
access: members
about:
  - type: Person
    name: Andy Burnham
    description: Andy Burnham is a British Labour politician who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 20 July 2026. He was previously Mayor of Greater Manchester and served in the Cabinet under Gordon Brown.
    jobTitle: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    sameAs:
      - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Burnham
  - type: Organization
    name: European Union
---

Andy Burnham has spent three months moving Britain step by step towards Brussels. This weekend he named the issue that every route back runs through. In an interview with the Sunday Times, the prime minister said the country should have an 'honest discussion' about returning to free movement with the European Union, the principle at the centre of the 2016 referendum campaign.

The interview, conducted on 19th October and published on 25th October, came four weeks before Burnham travels to Brussels for the second UK-EU summit on 20th November. European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will host him, and the leaders are expected to issue a joint declaration at the end of the meeting.

## What Burnham said, and what he ruled out

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