Burnham promises to create a separate ‘Labour Yes’ campaign for the EU referendum

Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham will visit Brussels today and call for a separate Labour Yes campaign in the referendum on European Union membership.

Burnham will meet with Labour MEPs and UK Ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rodgers. As the first of the leaderships candidates to make a campaign stop in Brussels, he will attempt to persuade MEPs to back him and outline his approach to the EU. Ahead of the party’s announcement that it supports an EU referendum – a change from its pre-election opposition – Burnham called for an early referendum, saying it should take place by Autumn 2016.

Burnham will announce he would “learn the lessons of the Scottish independence referendum” – where Labour joined forces with the Conservatives in the Better Together campaign – and establish “a separate ‘Labour Yes’ campaign.” This is an attempt to show party members that while Labour will campaign for Britain to stay in the EU, under his leadership they would not be seen as going into partnership with the Tories over this issue.

He will also set out his renegotiation agenda, which will including strengthening the enforcement of the national minimum wage and addressing the issue of firms recruiting exclusively from overseas.

Burnham will say:

Even though Labour is in a leadership campaign, I am not going to let the EU debate be defined by David Cameron. Today, I will discuss with Labour colleagues in the European Parliament what a distinctive pro-European reform package will look like.

These are areas that David Cameron will not be focusing on and that is why we be raising them today to make the Labour case for Europe. Re-negotiation cannot be a green light to turn the clock back and weaken employment rights.

 Labour will also learn the lessons of the Scottish independence referendum and it is my intention to have a separate ‘Labour Yes’ campaign.