Labour seeking ‘deeper relationship’ with EU under Burnham, new minister says

Exclusive: Hamish Falconer wants ‘sense of renewed pace’ in post-Brexit talks while staying within Labour’s red lines ‘I was on my honeymoon!’: Hamish Falconer’s surprise call-up to Burnham’s cabinet The UK will move faster and be more ambitious on achieving closer ties with Europe under Andy Burnham’s government, his new chief post-Brexit negotiator has said. Hamish Falconer, the new cabinet minister in charge of the EU reset talks, said there was “room to be ambitious” within Labour’s red lines on Europe, which exclude reopening discussions on the single market and customs union, and he would look at the “art of the possible”. He said greater cooperation on services – which might include visa-free travel for British people working in the EU, or mutual recognition of qualifications – was the next big area where the UK hoped to make progress. “I would want a deeper relationship, a more ambitious relationship with the EU,” Falconer told the Guardian. “There’s also a whole range of areas in relation to services where I’d really like it to be progressed. Services is obviously an area where the EU itself is less closely integrated and there’s a