00:00British Prime Minister Andy Burnham says any new referendum on Britain's EU membership is still a long way off.
00:08That follows recent remarks from Burnham that Britain should eventually rejoin the European Union.
00:13But he says his proposals are about Britain's long-term direction, not about preparing for an immediate referendum.
00:22So we're in this position now where we can't really avoid the question anymore as to what is our long
00:28-term relationship.
00:29It could be to stay exactly as we are. It could be to look at what the EU and Canada
00:35were talking about recently.
00:36George Osborne was talking about the customs union recently.
00:41I think it's right to have a quite calm discussion about what broadly are our options here.
00:47Is there a centre of gravity or a consensus around one of them and then see where British public opinion
00:54is.
00:54It's not to go back to what I was saying because to leap back to a proposal and a referendum
01:00on it wouldn't be the right thing to do right now.
01:03Burnham campaigned to keep Britain in the EU during the 2016 referendum, which resulted in a vote to leave the
01:09bloc.
01:10He has since argued that Brexit failed to deliver the promise of taking back control and has left Britain weaker,
01:17particularly on the economy and immigration.
01:20Britain left the EU in 2020 after more than four decades of membership.
01:25Burnham's comments have reunited a debate that has remained deeply divisive in British politics.
01:32Burnham's comments have been addressed next time.
