LONDON — U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted he is in agreement with his boss Andy Burnham’s drive for closer European Union ties — a month after he warned re-litigating Brexit battles would cause “uncertainty” for business.
Reynolds told POLITICO at Labour conference that a return to the bloc’s customs union — one of the potential EU options floated by Burnham since then — would force “a whole range of alignment on regulatory issues” and warned that constant “constitutional questions” cause “a lot of uncertainty for business.”
But, challenged by Sky News Tuesday on whether Burnham was adding to that uncertainty by bringing the Europe issue to the top of the government agenda, Reynolds said: “I don’t disagree with the prime minister …
“For the here and now, I very strongly backed our manifesto position which is: can we improve our trade relationships with the rest of the world, which we’ve done.”
He added: “When we’re talking about the next ten years, you can’t avoid this question.
The uncertainty is there come what may. I want as least uncertainty as possible for British business.”
Burnham is due to attend a long-planned U.K.-EU summit in Brussels on November 20, where he will attempt to iron on issues with the existing Brexit settlement — although the summit is not expected to get into wider questions about the U.K.’s relationship with the bloc.