Andy Burnham said he was not proposing the UK rejoining the European Union as he warned against getting stuck in a “permanent rut” of Brexit arguments.
Burnham, who hopes to return to Westminster in the Makerfield by-election, said Brexit had been “damaging” but “the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments”.
Mr Burnham has previously said he would like to see the UK back in the EU within his lifetime.
If Mr Burnham returns to the House of Commons he could seek to challenge Sir Keir Starmer, with Brexit likely to be a key issue in any leadership contest.
But first he has to win the Leave-voting Makerfield seat and he sought to play down the prospect of reversing the 2016 Brexit referendum.
In a speech at a conference in Leeds he said: “My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments. Britain will be stuck in a permanent rut if we’re just constantly arguing and people are pulling away from each other.
“It is time, surely, isn’t it, to bring people back together, to focus on what we’ve got in common, to get the growth coming to all places, so it’s felt there.
“That is what we need in this moment and it’s really important that whatever comes out of this by-election there is a more unifying feeling about the change that we need to work towards.
“I am not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made at the referendum and it is going to undermine everything I have said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.”
At a fringe event at the Labour conference in September 2025 he said his “long-term” goal would be to seek to return to the EU.
“People prosper more when they’re part of unions,” he told the audience.
