UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy questions whether rejoining EU is a 'choice we have'

PM Andy Burnham has said he wants debate about Britain's long-term relationship with Brussels

Lisa Nandy, the UK's culture secretary, has warned that Britain might never get an opportunity to rejoin the EU, in comments that demonstrate the divisions in the cabinet over Brexit.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in September that he wanted a debate about Britain's long-term relationship with the EU, with options including the status quo, joining a customs union or single market, or going "all the way" by rejoining the bloc.

Burnham's openness to reversing Brexit -- albeit after the next election -- helped to reinvigorate many Remainers who had never given up hope of the UK re-entering the EU despite the vote to leave 10 years ago.

But Nandy poured cold water on the idea on Sunday, telling the BBC that the public did not want to "repeat circular arguments about in or out, leave or remain" despite the damage to the British economy from being outside the bloc.

Asked if she wanted to go back into the EU, she replied: "I don't know if that's a choice we have."

Nandy, who is MP for Wigan, an area that voted heavily for Leave, is one of the most cautious figures in the cabinet about any attempt to reverse Brexit.

She said on Sunday: "There are costs as well as benefits to a closer relationship with the EU. There are trade-offs to be made, and we can't cut people out of that conversation."

Labour hopes to sign off close relationships in various areas with Brussels at a landmark EU-UK summit on November 20. The agreement will include deals on food and farming, emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme.

Yet Burnham has opened the door to a much broader conversation about the future long-term relationship between both sides, even if he has committed to sticking to Labour's manifesto red lines -- ruling out a return to the customs union or single market -- during the current parliament.

Questions about that future relationship will be raised on Thursday when Burnham meets counterparts at the European Political Community summit taking place in Dublin.

Michel Barnier, the former EU Brexit negotiator, warned on Sunday that the UK could not "cherry-pick" which parts of the single market it wanted to sign up to and that Britain would have to accept free movement of people.

Barnier said the "door is open" to the UK rejoining the EU but said it would lose its financial "rebate" -- negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s -- that significantly lowered its payments to Brussels.

Burnham has talked about wanting to lay out "different options" for the future relationship and has insisted he is open-minded about which the public would choose.

Nigel Farage, leader of the populist right-wing Reform UK party, said Burnham had broken a promise not to reopen the Brexit issue.

"This government was elected saying no moves back towards the single market, the customs union or open borders," he told the BBC.

"Andy Burnham himself, six months ago, in the by-election, couldn't have been clearer, saying 'we will not reopen old arguments'. I would say the government has no mandate to do any of this."

Nandy backed Remain in 2016 but has since urged colleagues to respect the result of the Brexit plebiscite.

On Sunday, she said people were united in their belief that they had been promised benefits from leaving the EU, most of which had "not been realised".

"It's not working for people across this country, and we've got to do better," she said.

She insisted that she was not at odds with the prime minister, saying: "Both of us really firmly believe that it is in the interests of this country to have a much closer relationship with our European friends and neighbours."