The Guardian view on Burnham’s Brexit reset: overdue, but proceed with care | Editorial

The prime minister is correct to judge the time is right to push for closer links with the EU. The political risk is far outweighed by the potential rewards The German philosopher GWF Hegel famously evoked the owl of Minerva when discussing the historical wisdom that comes throug

The prime minister is correct to judge the time is right to push for closer links with the EU. The political risk is far outweighed by the potential rewards The German philosopher GWF Hegel famously evoked the owl of Minerva when discussing the historical wisdom that comes through hindsight. This autumn, she has flown tirelessly over the landscape of British politics.

Party conference season was dominated by conflicting Labour and Conservative accounts of the 1970s and 80s. And a decade after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, Andy Burnham this week abandoned all equivocation over the damage – economic but also strategic – that resulted from that decision. Having declared that it is time to “face up to the reality that Brexit has done more harm than good”, Mr Burnham told the House of Commons on Monday that it would be a “dereliction of duty” not to explore all options for closer relations with Brussels.

Though he confirmed that in this parliament he will honour the red lines in Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour manifesto, all bets will subsequently be off. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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