Nigel Farage has said Andy Burnham opening up the prospect of rejoining the EU will harm Labour in the red wall.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “So 7th May, we had local elections, Scottish elections, Welsh elections. They were a complete and utter disaster for the prime minister, and suddenly there’s a challenger.
“Suddenly there’s someone attempting a coup. His name is Andy Burnham, and he’s going for the big leave voting seat of Makerfield on the outskirts of Manchester. This is what Burnham had to say about Brexit and our relationship with the European Union on the 18th May this year:
‘I’m not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made at the referendum, and it’s going to undermine everything I’ve said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.’
“So there he is. He respects the decision of the British people. A pretty straight-talking kind of guy. Well, until yesterday, that is.
‘We would look at the different options, so we could stay as we are. That’s definitely an option if people think this is the right place to stay. We could look at what George Osborne has said about a customs union. We could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about single market, or we could go all the way.’
“And this from a Prime Minister, who says he wants to unite the country. I can’t think of anything more divisive than going back to the Brexit debate and some of the anger that would provoke.
“And it certainly does not honour the promise he made the people of Makerfield when he won that by-election just a few months ago; it doesn’t pass the Makerfield test.
“It will do Labour a great deal of damage in the red wall, but you can see what he’s trying to do. You know, quoting the Liberal Democrats, quoting George Osborne, almost trying to build a new coalition for us to become part of that European Union again.”
