Barnier says UK cannot pick and choose terms of EU single-market return

Former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says the UK could not rejoin the single market on terms of its choosing, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham considers closer economic ties with the bloc.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of a UK-EU summit in Brussels later this month, Barnier said membership would require the UK to accept all four freedoms: the movement of goods, services, capital and people. “There will be no possibility to have one freedom and not the other,” he said.

Burnham has said rejoining the single market is among the options he could explore for the UK’s long-term relationship with the EU. He has also ruled out major changes before the next election. After saying he would not restore free movement without a referendum, he was not advocating its return at this stage, Downing Street said.

Barnier, who led the EU’s negotiations over the UK’s departure from 2016 to 2021, said the bloc’s door was open to the UK rejoining as a full member. But he predicted EU countries would reject a return of the UK’s budget rebate, which reduced its contributions. Leaving the bloc had created “a new situation”, he said, and a rebate would be “off the table”.

The Brussels summit is expected to focus on possible agreements on food standards, youth visas and linking British industry to the EU’s carbon trading system. Free movement remains politically contentious in the UK: Labour ruled out restoring it in its 2024 election manifesto, and it would be a dividing line with the Conservatives and Reform UK.

Barnier also accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former prime minister Boris Johnson of making false promises over the claim that leaving the EU would free up £350m a week for the NHS. The figure was criticised for not accounting for the UK rebate or EU spending in Britain. Johnson defended it as based on the UK’s gross contribution; Farage, who was not part of the Vote Leave campaign, called Barnier “arrogant, out of touch and a bully”.