George Osborne calls for UK to rejoin EU customs union

The former chancellor said that rejoining the customs union would be the fastest route to recovery, while acknowledging that rejoining the EU would be difficult a decade on from the Brexit referendum.

Mr Osborne was part of David Cameron’s cabinet at the time of the referendum, and resigned hours after Lord Cameron following the result.

He said that rejoining the trading bloc would be a “straightforward decision” for Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

George Osborne was Tory chancellor for six year under David Cameron (PA)

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Mr Osborne told the Independent: “Brexit has been a mess, Britain has basically gone off a cliff. It has had a huge impact on the British economy. It is clearly poorer than it would otherwise be.”

“I would rejoin the customs union. It’s a quite simple thing to do. That was never part of the Brexit debate. No one knew we were leaving it and it has had a devastating impact on trade.

“The reason we weren’t supposed to be in the customs union – according to the Brexiteers – was these great trade deals we were going to strike with America. That all looks pretty fanciful now.

“People now realise you can’t look at Britain’s growth problem without beginning to think: ‘How can we revive trade with the continent, how can we get investment?’

“If I was Andy Burnham, I don’t see why you wouldn’t rejoin the customs union.

“It’s a pretty straightforward decision because unlike the single market, it does not require you to accept the free movement of people – which is a pretty complicated issue to sell to people in Britain at the moment.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham

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At the Labour Party Conference in September last year, Mr Burnham said that he wanted to rejoin the EU - but he rowed back on those comments during his campaign to win the Makerfield by-election.

In June, Mr Burnham said that he “respected” the decision of leave voters a decade ago and said he was “not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU”.

UK and EU officials will meet during an in-person summit next month, which is due to be attended by Mr Burnham, Ursula von der Leyen, and more European leaders.

Mr Burnham has vowed to stick to the 2024 Labour manifesto, not to return to the EU single market, customs union or freedom of movement.

Before he left office, Sir Keir Starmer had been in talks to negotiate a closer alignment on food products between the EU and the UK.