Sir Keir Starmer has raised the prospect of the UK rejoining the EU “years down the line”, in what has been seen as a threat to undermine Andy Burnham’s stance on Brexit. The prime minister and Downing Street have been accused by allies of the Greater Manchester mayor of sabotaging his campaign, after they refused to rule out the prospect of a Labour pledge to rejoin the union. Mr Burnham has attempted to distance himself from his previous Remain stance and his desire to reverse the 2016 referendum, given that he is standing in the Makerfield by-election, a constituency that voted Leave. It was also revealed in The Independent that Labour MPs have been told by allies of Sir Keir that Mr Burnham could bring back former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled in 2024 in a row over antisemitism. New polling of Labour members has shown that Mr Burnham would beat the prime minister in a leadership contest, despite Sir Keir’s pledge he will not “walk away” and set a timetable for his departure. Mr Burnham said that what has been offered by Labour “has simply not been good enough”, as he criticised the last 40 years of British politics. Editorial: We need to talk about BrexitWhatever comradeship and fraternal fealty remain within Labour, the debate that has suddenly ignited in the party about Britain rejoining the European Union is hardly helping it.Two men who actually agree on that eventual goal, Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham, have fallen into a tedious briefing war about whether raising this distant prospect right now is a cynical plot by Mr Streeting to undermine Mr Burnham’s chances of winning the Makerfield by-election, and thus the Labour leadership.Mr Streeting claim that he is simply pointing out the lasting consequences of the “catastrophic mistake” the nation as a whole made in 2016, and that it cannot be ignored.Read our full editorial here: We need to talk about BrexitEditorial: Don’t let the ugly civil war breaking out in the Labour Party over the EU deter us from the fact that we need to rerun this painful debate 10 years after we leftHolly Evans19 May 2026 08:19Dan Jarvis rules out Manchester mayoralty bidGovernment minister Dan Jarvis has ruled out running to be the next Mayor of Greater Manchester if Andy Burnham resigns to return to Parliament.The national security minister was the elected as the first Mayor of South Yorkshire in 2018, working alongside Mr Burnham as a regional mayor.Asked on Tuesday if he would consider returning to the role in Manchester as he had experience, he told Sky News: “On the other side of the Pennines. “My job as the National Security Minister keeps me very busy, and that is my only focus.”Security minister Dan Jarvis gas ruled out running to be the next mayor of Greater Manchester (Lucy North/PA) (PA Wire)Athena Stavrou19 May 2026 08:00Miinister says unemployment figures are 'encouraging' given Iran war Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said unemployment figures are “encouraging” amid the impact of the Iran war on the labour market.He said: “Today’s figures show there were 416,000 more people in work than there was this time last year. While this is encouraging, we know the conflict in the Middle East is casting a shadow on the labour market.“However, thanks to the choices we have made, we are in a stronger position to deal with the continuing volatility and costs of the war in Iran with our economy ranking as the fastest growing of any European G7 country last year.“Boosting opportunity and tackling youth unemployment in every area remains our priority, and through our jobs guarantee we are helping young people into work while engaging employers to ensure they have the skilled workforce that they need.” Holly Evans19 May 2026 07:52‘Whole Labour family’ will get behind Makerfield by-election campaignA government minister has insisted the “whole Labour family” will get behind the party’s candidate in Makerfield - even if it’s Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership rival Andy Burnham.Security minister Dan Jarvis praised Mr Burnham’s “outstanding record of achievement as the mayor of Greater Manchester.“Whoever the candidate is in MakerField, the whole Labour family will get behind that candidate,” he told Sky News. “And we'll all be knocking on doors in Makerfield to make sure that we return the Labour MP to make sure that we beat Reform.”Athena Stavrou19 May 2026 07:42Starmer and No 10 accused of attempts to sabotage BurnhamDowning Street did not rule out the prospect of Labour pledging to rejoin the EU ahead of the next election, while Sir Keir Starmer has also raised the prospect in what has been seen as a move to undermine Andy Burnham. The prime minister said that a debate on Brexit “might happen years down the line”. Meanwhile, the Greater Manchester mayor has attempted to distance himself from his Remain stance, given that he is standing in the Makerfield by-election which has a vote-Leave supporter base. Speaking at the Great North summit in Leeds on Monday, he said he “respects” Brexit and told the crowd: “Britain will be stuck in a permanent rut if we’re just constantly arguing and people are pulling away from each other.”Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham set out his ambition to ‘change Labour’ on Monday (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)Holly Evans19 May 2026 07:39Starmer to chair first Cabinet meeting since Wes Streeting’s resignationSir Keir Starmer will assemble his new-look Cabinet for the first time on Tuesday after insisting again that he would not “walk away” from Downing Street.Tuesday’s regular Cabinet meeting will be the first since Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary and called on the Prime Minister to quit last week.It also follows Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s announcement that he intends to fight the Makerfield by-election.Holly Evans19 May 2026 07:32UK unemployment rises to 5 per cent The rate of UK unemployment rose to 5 per cent in the three months to March, up from 4.9 per cent in the three months to February, the Office for National Statistics said.Meanwhile in a positive for Reeves, UK average regular earnings growth fell to 3.4 per cent in the three months to March and was 0.3 per cent higher after taking Consumer Prices Index inflation into account, Holly Evans19 May 2026 07:17Bryony Gooch19 May 2026 07:00Bryony Gooch19 May 2026 06:00Bryony Gooch19 May 2026 04:00