UK and EU officials to discuss freedom of movement

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Reynolds said current discussions ahead of the summit are around food and drink, electricity and emissions trading.

He said: “What the prime minister has also said, quite rightly, is we face a series of policy changes on the European side that will affect us.

“We need to get as little uncertainty as possible, we need to have a way to resolve what our long-term relationship will be and he is going to set that out after the summit.

“He is going to be frank with the British people about what the trade-offs are but no assumptions have been made on that.”

Pressed on whether UK officials are talking to the EU about freedom of movement Reynolds said: “They will be talking to them about what the future options for our relationship might be.

“But here and now, the focus should be on the summit and the tangible difference improvements we’re going to make.”

However, Labour MP Melanie Onn, whose constituency Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes backed leaving the EU, told the same programme Burnham risked losing trust by talking about going beyond the 2024 manifesto at a future election.

“I don’t think that the scars have healed for many people around the country so I do think this is an unnecessary conversation to be having at this time,” she said.

Onn, who lost her seat in 2019 to the Conservatives but won it back in 2024, warned against re-opening the conversation, saying: “Trust is incredibly important, it’s hard-earned and easily lost, and on this matter I think that we should tread incredibly carefully.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told BBC Breakfast that “Andy Burnham has no mandate to be in Brussels, to be negotiating any of this” and called for the prime minister to put his ideas to the public in a general election.