The EU's former Brexit negotiator has warned that the United Kingdom cannot selectively choose which elements of the single market it adopts, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham signals interest in closer economic ties with Europe.
Michel Barnier, who led the EU delegation during Brexit negotiations between 2016 and 2021 and served briefly as French prime minister in 2024, made the remarks in a television interview. He said there was no "single market à la carte" option available to the UK.
"There will be no possibility to have one freedom and not the other. The four freedoms are clearly the four conditions to be inside a single market," Barnier said.
The four freedoms refer to the free movement of goods, services, capital and people — a set of principles enshrined in EU law that all single market members must observe.
Barnier said the "door is open" for the UK to rejoin the EU as a full member, but insisted that any return to the single market would require the UK to accept the same terms as all other members, including the free movement of people.
Since taking office in July, Burnham has suggested Labour could pursue a significantly closer relationship with Europe, including the possibility of seeking full EU membership. He has, however, ruled out major changes before the next general election.
Burnham recently stated in an interview that he would not restore free movement of people without first holding a referendum. Downing Street subsequently clarified that he was not actively advocating for its return at this stage.
He has previously said he wanted to present "different options" for the UK's relationship with Europe at an upcoming Brussels summit later this month, with the aim of building a public consensus around a new framework.
Free movement of people was a central issue in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Burnham's immediate predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, explicitly ruled out restoring it in Labour's 2024 general election manifesto. Any move to revive the policy would represent a significant dividing line with the Conservatives and Reform UK at a future election.
Both the UK and EU are preparing for a meeting in Brussels in approximately ten days, where they hope to announce agreements on food standards, youth visas and the re-linking of British industry to the EU's carbon trading regime.
Barnier also predicted that EU member states would reject any reinstatement of the British financial rebate, first negotiated in 1985, which had reduced the UK's contributions to the EU's annual budget. The UK's departure from the bloc had created "a new situation," he said, making a new rebate "off the table."
The former negotiator also drew a comparison between Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and French politician Marine Le Pen.
"We have our own Farage. It is Mrs Le Pen. The same populism, the same lies, the same false promises," Barnier said.
When pressed to elaborate on his accusation of lies, Barnier cited the Vote Leave campaign's claim that Britain sent £350 million a week to the EU. "For instance, when Mr Farage and Mr Johnson promised the UK people to get back [£350] million per week, it was not true, it was not possible. It was a lie," he said.
The £350 million figure appeared on the side of the Vote Leave campaign bus, alongside the message: "Let's fund our NHS instead." Boris Johnson, a key figure in that campaign, said in 2017 that "once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly £350m per week. It would be a fine thing as many of us have pointed out if a lot of that money went on the NHS."
Critics argued the figure represented a gross contribution that did not account for the UK's £75 million-a-week rebate or EU investment back into the UK. Johnson has defended the claim, saying the £350 million figure was based on the gross contribution and was, in his view, an underestimate.
