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The Conservatives risk falling into a “trap” set by Andy Burnham on relations with the European Union, former Tory mayor Andy Street has warned.
Speaking at Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this week, Street argued that the Labour Prime Minister was goading the Tories into a hardline EU policy that would cost them key votes at the next general election.
“It is a trap that has been set for us by a very clever politician,” he warned.
Street, who was West Midlands mayor from 2017 to 2024 before helping set up centre-right organisation Prosper UK, spoke at a panel discussion hosted by think tank More in Common and chaired by PoliticsHome.
On the eve of Tory conference, the party’s deputy leader Alex Burghart said the Conservatives would reverse Labour government steps to deepen UK ties with the EU, describing the reset initiated by former prime minister Keir Starmer as “extraordinary” and “disastrous”.
Burghart told The Sunday Times that if elected to government, the Conservatives would undo UK-EU deals in areas like food standards and youth mobility.
At Labour Party conference days before, Burnham said he would explore options to take the UK closer to the bloc, which could include rejoining.
Asked about Burghart’s remarks, Street said his party must avoid stepping into the Prime Minister’s electoral “trap”.
He argued that it will be harder for Kemi Badenoch’s party to win back voters it lost to the Liberal Democrats in southern England at the next general election if it is seen as pushing an anti-EU line.
“The time when we went completely blue was when we secured the Conservative curious votes on the left and did not alienate the Reform frontier. That is utopia as far as we are concerned. I do believe that can be done [again],” Street told PoliticsHome.
“If you are sitting in Labour HQ, you have to stop that happening. What is the best card to stop that happening? Europe is the best card to stop that happening.
“You stop those Lib Dems who we think we can win on the economy coming back. You frighten them by our position on Brexit and where we are with our relationship with Europe.”
He continued: “What does Mr Burnham want? He wants us to fall into the trap of saying ‘you cannot reopen this debate’ – I agree, we must not re-open the referendum – but then we go, we don’t allow any closer relationship with Europe.
“That solidifies those Lib Dem voters against us.”
Street added that instead of pledging to rip up new agreements with Brussels, the Tories should focus on “practical ideas to get the best out of the current negotiation with Europe, because that’s what those Lib Dem considerers want us to do”.
At a fringe event elsewhere focused on ‘blue collar Conservatism’ and winning back supporters from Reform, Tory members disagreed with the strategy set out by Street and called on the Conservatives to adopt a hardline EU position.
Bill Etheridge, a former UKIP member of the European Parliament who recently joined the Conservatives, said the party should be “full-blooded Brexiteers”.
“As a party, we have a golden, golden thing that we can use. We can improve our finances as a nation. We can stop the boats. We can sort out immigration. It’s called Brexit,” he said.
“We haven’t taken advantage of any of the benefits. This is our opportunity now to be full-blooded Brexiteers. This is where we could go. We can make such a difference as working-class blue-collar conservatives voting for Brexit.”
Additional reporting by Zoë Crowther