Thunder Bay – World News – A senior member of the European Parliament has suggested that the UK could rejoin the European Union within months if it adopts a deal modelled on Switzerland’s relationship with the bloc, as prime minister Andy Burnham pushes for closer ties with Brussels.
German MEP Bernd Lange, who played a role in the original Brexit negotiations, said he would “love to see the UK come back” and outlined what he believes could be a relatively quick route for Britain to re-enter the EU fold.
Lange said the UK could follow a path similar to that of Switzerland, which is not a full EU member but enjoys access to the European single market through a series of bilateral agreements. In exchange, Switzerland has accepted free movement of people and contributes €375 million (£317 million) a year to the EU’s economic and cohesion funds.
Lange suggested that this framework could serve as a template for Britain, though he cautioned that the Swiss model was essentially “passive” in nature, since it does not give Switzerland a seat at the table when EU rules are being made.
“As a step-by-step [process], of course, there are a lot of possibilities, but I would love to have the UK come back also in the political decision-making process and politically be engaged,” he said. “So we have the model of Switzerland … Switzerland plus, I would say, as that has some kinds of engagement but not the full membership.”
The comments come after Burnham used Labour’s annual party conference last month to announce that he would examine options for bringing Britain closer to the EU, going as far as to suggest that re-entry into the bloc could feature in Labour’s manifesto at the next general election. The announcement was welcomed by several European leaders, including French president Emmanuel Macron and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
In a statement to parliament on Monday, Burnham said he intends to use a major UK-EU summit in Brussels next month to press for a broader reset of relations with the bloc, with particular emphasis on growth, immigration and security cooperation.
The prospect of warmer UK-EU relations comes amid signs of a notable shift in public opinion since the 2016 Brexit referendum. As part of The Independent’s “Europe: The Way Back” campaign, polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice recently reported that support for rejoining the EU has climbed to its highest level since the Brexit vote, now standing at 61 per cent.
With Burnham weighing up Britain’s future path with Europe, The Independent has continued to campaign for the best possible outcome for the UK in its relationship with the bloc, framing the debate as central to the country’s economic and political future.
Lange’s intervention adds to a growing chorus of voices on both sides of the Channel signalling openness to a closer UK-EU relationship, even if full membership remains a distant prospect. His “Switzerland plus” idea envisions a halfway house that would give Britain access to the single market while retaining some mechanism for political engagement with EU institutions — something the current Swiss arrangement lacks.
Switzerland’s relationship with the EU has long been held up as a possible model for post-Brexit Britain, though it has also been criticised for being complex, built on a patchwork of sector-specific agreements rather than one overarching treaty. Lange’s suggestion that the UK could go further than Switzerland by securing a degree of political voice marks a notable addition to the ongoing debate.
As Brussels and Westminster prepare for next month’s summit, attention will now turn to how far Burnham is willing to go in pursuing closer alignment with the EU, and whether any new framework could draw on the Swiss example while addressing its shortcomings. For now, Lange’s remarks offer an early indication of how some in Brussels are already thinking about what a UK return — or at least a much closer relationship — might look like in practice.
