LONDON — Architects of the U.K.’s post-Brexit “red lines” now back a rethink on the EU relations strictures at the next election.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, who served as former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s top negotiator with Brussels, said that Britain should be open to getting rid of the boundaries in the interest of economic growth.

The former Cabinet minister, who led “reset” talks with the EU until July, was one of the staunchest defenders of the red lines — which rule out rejoining the single market, the customs union and restoring freedom of movement.

Labour campaigned and won the 2024 general election on those promises as it sought to move the Brexit conversation on after years of fractious debate.

Thomas-Symonds is the latest Starmer ally to express openness to dropping those restrictions in Labour’s manifesto at the next election (which must be held before the end of summer 2029). The comments further demonstrate the shift in opinion in the Labour Party, and its belief that public sentiment has moved with it.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will meet with continental leaders at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin Thursday to help progress another incremental “reset” deal with Brussels that should be signed at a EU-U.K. summit in Brussels.

Around that Nov. 20 summit, the prime minister has committed to go further in setting out what he thinks the options are for future relations with the bloc. He hasn’t taken the option of Britain fully rejoining the EU off the table.

“We do need to have a debate now about what we want to do going forward,” Thomas-Symonds said in an interview in his office in parliament on Tuesday.

The MP for Torfaen said that during his time as a Cabinet Office minister he had frequent conversations with British and European businesses about the post-Brexit red tape holding them back.

“Now that is not helping us in terms of growing the economy. So the kind of growth potential is significant,” he added.

“So, given the status quo is not working in the way that it should be, given I think where public opinion is as well, I don’t think anyone was interested in another Brexit election in 2024 — but certainly now where public opinion is as well, I think it’s absolutely right to have a debate now about these different options that are available to us.”

Thomas-Symonds’ comments come after Chris Ward — a former Cabinet Office minister and long-time political aide to Starmer who helped draw up the red lines — said those red lines deserve a “dignified retirement.” Rachel Reeves, who was Starmer’s chief finance minister, said this month that Britain should go back into the EU — comments which would have been impossible to voice while serving in his administration.

Veteran Brexiteer Nigel Farage has called Burnham’s approach a “total betrayal” and hopes it could reinvigorate his Reform UK party — which has been on a downward trajectory in the polls.

“I think I probably know the pitfalls of it more than most,” said Thomas-Symonds of escalating the Brexit conversation. “But this is a necessary debate to have because we do need to reach a position to put the future relationship with the European Union on a firm footing.”

But he called for an “open debate” and for the costs and benefits of the various options for a closer relationship with the EU to be transparently laid out. Britain could continue to try to broker bespoke arrangements, rejoin the customs union, single market, or the bloc itself.

“What we need to see is all these things set out with the trade-offs because we can’t just have a debate in the abstract again,” said Thomas-Symonds, who returned to the backbenches after Burnham took over from Starmer. Burnham appointed Hamish Falconer as his minister for EU relations.

Burnham’s decision to trigger the EU debate is facing skepticism in his own Cabinet, where some ministers are sensitive to reopening the old wounds of the Brexit debate. 

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood have both historically been hesitant about re-litigating Brexit battles. Chancellor John Healey put a dampener on Burnham’s grander hopes that Britain will rejoin the EU in his lifetime, telling Channel 4 News last month that he does not expect that to happen.

OSLO — Andy Burnham has been warned by Norway’s leader not to seek to emulate his country’s EU relationship ahead of a summit with European leaders.

In a POLITICO interview, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said he would not recommend the model his country has with the EU to Britain, because the two economies are so different.

Norway, with a population of 5.6 million, is a member of the EU single market through the European Economic Area (EEA) but is not a fully fledged EU member state — and therefore has no voting rights over the bloc’s commercial rules. 

“There’s an obvious democratic deficit in it, but pragmatically, all [Norwegian] Parliaments since 1995 have said this is a reasonable way of doing it,” Støre said. “I don’t see Britain do that. I don’t see Canada do that.” 

The U.K. and Canada are both in the process of seeking closer ties to the bloc of 27 countries, which the U.K. voted to leave a decade ago. 

Burnham has said in the long term he wants to see the U.K. rejoin — and is aiming to scope ideas for better trade terms later this month at a summit with EU leaders. He has said all options should be looked at. 

Støre said in addition to being part of the single market, Norway has had to sign 100 additional agreements with Brussels, covering climate, students, security and other matters. 

“I can tell you after Brexit, British friends called me and said, tell us about the Norwegian way of doing it. And I said, if you left the EU because there was too much Brussels, don’t take the Norwegian version,” he said. 

“Because here, you know, basically we are taking most of their decisions, we implement them. But a country of 5 million people that has been a completely open economy, always adapting to standards, to be part of the global economy, very open economy, we can live with that.” 

He confirmed he would not recommend the Norway model to Britain “because I think it’s very different, you know, and they have to find their solution.” 

Støre added that he could see the U.K., Canada and Norway working strategically together on issues that also matter to the EU, including space cooperation and supply chains for rare earth minerals. 

Støre has been leader of Norway’s Labor Party since 2014 and prime minister since 2021.

LONDON — The leaders of five EU countries have urged Brussels to “swiftly” sign a deal to let the U.K. back into the single market for electricity.

In a letter seen by POLITICO, sent earlier this week, the leaders of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Luxembourg say this month’s U.K.-EU summit should set out “a path” to getting the talks over the line as soon as possible.

Last year Brussels and London agreed to start negotiations on the U.K. rejoining the internal electricity market — but progress has been slow going and talks are not expected to be finished by the Nov. 20 meeting.

A group of countries are now urging the European Commission to wrap up discussions by the end of 2027, according to an EU diplomat granted anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

Proponents say the plan would unlock new renewable energy investment in the North Sea and could cut electricity prices.

But the EU says the U.K. would have to make a contribution to EU cohesion funds as the price of participating in the market — a politically difficult ask for London.

Clean energy hub

The leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, write that the agreement is “necessary to unlock the full potential of the North Sea” and to “transform it into the largest clean energy hub in the world.”

“An agreement will thus enhance Europe’s energy security and contribute to a competitive economy that centres on access to clean and affordable energy,” the letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa states.

“These benefits underline the importance of swiftly concluding the ongoing negotiations. We call on you and the UK to agree during the Summit on a path towards the conclusion of these negotiations.”

Britain’s energy industry says the agreement could help bring down electricity prices in the U.K. — a cost-of-living priority for Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Energy UK, the industry’s representative body, says that being outside the electricity market will create “additional costs of up to £10bn this Parliament through higher energy bills and lower Treasury revenues.”

The same EU diplomat quoted above, from a country supportive of a swift agreement, said the financial contribution required to rejoin the market would amount to “investing” in market access.

“A larger electricity market will ultimately lead to lower electricity prices in the U.K. And of course, the U.K. is currently facing very high electricity prices,” they said.

“The U.K. would be investing in access to a more integrated, secure and competitive European energy market — bringing lower energy costs, greater investment certainty and huge opportunities for British businesses and consumers.”

Greater security of supply, more price stability, and greater certainty for investors would also be key benefits, they said.

While talks on the internal electricity market are not expected to conclude in time for this month’s summit, the Nov. 20 meeting is expected to see both sides sign off three further agreements on youth mobility, emissions trading and alignment on agri-food rules.

Brussels and London are also expected to issue a “joint statement” at the meeting which will address other issues, including the future of talks on the internal electricity market.

The United Kingdom should be given the option to rejoin the European Union without adopting the single currency or joining the passport-free travel zone, the bloc’s former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Thursday.

“The door is open,” said Barnier, who now serves as a French lawmaker, at POLITICO’s European Pulse Seminar. “If the British sovereignly choose to seek closer ties with [the EU], I don’t believe we can make it mandatory for them to adopt the euro, abandon the pound or rejoin Schengen.”

POLITICO reported last month that Brussels would be flexible on letting Britain stay out of the euro and the Schengen area if it ever applied to rejoin the EU. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wants to eventually see the U.K. rejoin, even suggesting the proposal could make it into Labour’s next election manifesto.

Burnham has said that options could include membership of the single market or customs union, but also rejoining wholesale.

Barnier, however, said there can be “no cherry-picking” when it comes to joining the single market — a line he often used as Brexit negotiator.

Barnier, who spent roughly three months as French prime minister in 2024 before falling to a vote of no confidence in parliament, also weighed in on next year’s presidential election in his home country. He called the current atmosphere in French politics “pre-insurrectionary” and said he regrets that two radical candidates who want to fundamentally reshape the EU, Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, are leading in the polls.

Though Le Pen has dropped her previous calls for France to leave the EU, Barnier said the far-right candidate’s public comments point “clearly towards the end of the European project as we have been building it for the past 40 years.”

He also insisted that Le Pen should not be compared to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — whom Barnier described as “pragmatic” and “pro-business” — despite the ideological proximity between the two nationalists on some points.

Barnier added that Le Pen’s platform, “in some respects, is not very different from the economic platform of Mr. Mélenchon, who is on the far left.”

Jon Stone contributed to reporting.