'We had a referendum': Chancellor Healey splits with Burnham over Brexit a day after the PM gagged his Cabinet
Andy Burnham and Kemi Badenoch clash at PMQs as Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds refused to give his personal view on free movement, offering only "the Government line.Chancellor John Healey acknowledged the current Brexit deal "has not been good for Britain over the last decade" but stopped short of endorsing rejoining the EU as the remedy.
John Healey broke ranks with Andy Burnham's Brexit push within hours of delivering his Budget, telling LBC flatly that "we had a referendum, we're out of the European Union" and rejecting the idea that EU or single market membership would have improved British growth. The split came a day after Burnham moved to muzzle Cabinet ministers from publicly championing specific EU options, citing collective responsibility.
Burnham told ministers in a formal letter that any "fundamental change" to post-Brexit arrangements would be "for the public to decide" and a matter for the next Parliament.
Shabana Mahmood, Lisa Nandy and Yvette Cooper are among the Cabinet's Eurosceptic voices, and all three have been named as uneasy about Burnham's move to reopen the Brexit question.
Healey did concede that the current Brexit deal "has not been good for Britain over the last decade" — but insisted his job is to "reinforce resilience" in the economy, not revisit the vote.
