the Prime Minister<\/a> and his new EU Relations Minister Hamish Falconer are open to cutting tuition fees for European students \u2013 but only as part of a grand bargain that would see the UK getting significantly improved trading terms with the bloc.<\/p>\nLondon has previously floated the idea that the UK could be included in a bespoke single market for goods with the EU but this was rejected by Brussels.<\/p>\n
The level of concessions being sought by Burnham is likely to include a carve-out for the UK from protectionist EU \u201cMade in Europe\u201d policies that threaten British industries and more single market access in different areas to those being negotiated.<\/p>\n
Falconer has not yet worked out exactly where the balance will lie and is developing his strategy for the negotiations and trade-offs ahead of an expected UK-EU summit around October or November.<\/p>\n
Some EU countries, like Germany, are understood to believe that \u201cMade in Europe\u201d policies must include British companies to ensure the health of the continent\u2019s economy. However, other nations, believed to include France, are more protectionist and believe the UK should be cut out and not be granted special deals in the wake of Brexit.<\/p>\n
Burnham and Falconer\u2019s approach to the talks is in line with Starmer and his former Brexit reset minister Nick Thomas-Symonds\u2019 approach. It may disappoint Europhiles who had been hoping the new Prime Minister would rip up Labour\u2019s red lines that keep the UK out of the EU single market, customs union and free movement area.<\/p>\n
Thomas-Symonds alluded to what the UK wants in return for conceding on university fees in a 23 June speech on the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote.<\/p>\n
He said the UK is \u201cslap bang in the middle of the tariff and protectionist crossfire\u201d between major trading blocs and insisted the EU is our \u201cbiggest trading partner with whom our supply chains are intrinsically linked\u201d, calling to \u201cprotect our continent\u2019s economy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Burnham faces the prospect of coming under pressure over Brexit at his first Labour Party conference as leader in September.<\/p>\n
A motion is being circulated among Labour\u2019s grassroots which could make it on to the conference floor. It calls on the Prime Minister to \u201crip up the red lines on Europe\u201d and align more closely with the EU to remove trade barriers and support national security.<\/p>\n
Labour MP Andrew Lewin, who chairs the cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission, urged Burnham to strike a youth mobility deal with the EU to unlock closer cooperation with Brussels.<\/p>\n
He told The i Paper: \u201cNo 10 has said they will run towards problems neglected for too long. With the UK-EU relationship, they can run towards an opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the Prime Minister makes it a priority to finalise a UK-EU youth mobility deal, so we can make good on the promise of allowing 18-30 year olds to travel freely across the European Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Treasury will recognise that a youth mobility scheme will be a pro-growth measure and with overall migration sharply down, there is no reason at all for the Home Office to object.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile many of us in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) would like to see UK-EU ties strengthened much further, getting this deal over the line this year would be a very good first step.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: \u201cWe are building an ambitious, close relationship with the EU that will strengthen our economy and unlock growth in every postcode.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham is open to cutting university fees for EU students if the UK gets substantial concessions on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1165008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[8916,802,748,2266,393,1699,4884,6657,1144,712,16,15,5178,1764],"class_list":["post-1165007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-andy-burnham","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-education","tag-england","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-migration","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-university","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117145582097766992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1165008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}