Nigel Farage has accused Prime Minister Andy Burnham of opening the way for Reform UK by reigniting the debate over Britain’s future relationship with the European Union.
Speaking at a Reform UK rally in Doncaster on Thursday, Mr Farage said Mr Burnham had made “a very big political mistake” by promising to examine options for the country’s relationship with Brussels. He also argued that the Prime Minister’s positions on European ties and devolution were contradictory.
“This is the pro-devolution prime minister,” Mr Farage told reporters. “To even consider rejoining the single market, the customs union, let alone the European Union itself, is the opposite of devolution – a massive transfer of huge powers up to an authority, whereby there’s nothing Parliament could do to change any of it.”
“So I find the whole thing totally contradictory,” he said.
Mr Farage, a prominent supporter of Brexit before the 2016 referendum, was responding to Mr Burnham’s comments during the Labour conference. The Prime Minister promised in his first Labour Party conference speech in Liverpool on Tuesday to set out options on the UK’s ties to Brussels around the time of a UK-EU summit later this year.
Mr Burnham later acknowledged that the options could include going “all the way” and rejoining the European Union if that was what public opinion favoured. He did not rule out including a pledge to rejoin in Labour’s next election manifesto.
Mr Farage said a second referendum would divide the country. When told that a majority of the public supported rejoining the European Union, he suggested that public opinion could change once people understood the costs and other implications.
“Here in Doncaster and across the north of England, I think what he’s done is open the door to Reform in the most extraordinary way,” Mr Farage told Sky News.
During the rally in the leave-voting Yorkshire city, he added: “If Andy Burnham, the king of the north, wants a fight in Doncaster… with me on rejoining the EU, then bring it on.”
### Other proposals criticised
Mr Burnham also used his conference speech to announce an adjustment to the state pension triple lock to help pay for social care, as well as a potential change to the UK’s electoral system. A national commission is due to investigate overhauling the first-past-the-post voting system.
Mr Farage said he supported “a degree of proportionality”, although he did not consider electoral reform a priority.
“I always thought a degree of proportionality in British politics would be useful because what it would mean is significant minority views would at least get a voice in Parliament,” he said. “As to where you draw that line and how you do it, I don’t know.”
He said he backed proposals associated with the 1998 Jenkins Commission, including retaining the election of the person representing an area through first past the post.
“But is it a priority right now? No,” he said.
Mr Farage said changing the voting system would take years. He argued that politicians should instead focus on issues including migrant boat arrivals and rising borrowing costs.
He also criticised the proposed change to the triple lock, saying pensioners were the “wrong target” for the policy.
### Questions over Reform UK finances
Reform UK has faced continuing questions about its finances and is under criminal investigation following allegations that the party breached donation rules concerning foreign funding.
An undercover report by Channel 4 last month showed senior party figures discussing how to disguise donations from foreign sources, according to the supplied report.
Mr Farage told journalists on Thursday that an internal investigation into the matter had been completed and would be published “very, very soon”. He also threatened media outlets with legal challenges.
The allegations and the investigation remain separate from Mr Farage’s criticism of Mr Burnham’s position on Brexit, electoral reform and the state pension triple lock.
