France and Spain say they’d welcome UK back to EU with ‘open arms’

"Come back!"

This week, Andy Burnham gave the strongest hint of any prime minister since Brexit that the UK could rejoin the EU.

In his Labour conference speech on Tuesday, Burnham said Brexit had caused “more harm than good” and he would look for a new consensus on what Britain’s relationship with the EU should be.

He told the conference: “We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of this century until we decide on a long term relationship with what is still our largest market.”

Burnham went on to say that at a UK-EU summit later this year he would “lay out to the country what I believe the different options are for Britain’s long term relationship with our European partners.”

This seemed to hint at the possibility that Brexit could be reversed in some form or another.

The following day, Burnham confirmed that all options were on the table in terms of Britain’s future relationship with the EU, including ‘going all the way’ and reversing Brexit.

The comments are the latest evidence that Burnham and Labour are edging their way towards putting a pledge to rejoin the EU in the party’s next manifesto.

The idea has been welcome by French president Emmanuel Macron and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez, who both seemed more than happy about the UK potentially returning to the trading bloc.

In a joint press conference this week, Macron said “welcome back” when he was asked about a potential ‘Breturn’, adding: “If the British want to come back and if the prime minister is moving in that direction, I think that is very good news both for his country and for Europeans.”

He then said: “Come back!”

Macron said Burnham was right to have the “boldness” to suggest a Brexit reversal.

The French president said the UK had “always been useful in helping us simplify things” when part of the EU.

Sanchez said Spain would ​”open its arms to a brotherly people.”

He described Brexit has a “huge loss, both for the British population and for the whole European project”, adding that he would “applaud” if the UK chose to rejoin.