Andy Burnham’s proposed reset with the European Union has come under pressure after polling in his Makerfield constituency found strong support for the UK Government deciding policy without direction from international institutions.
The Survation survey, commissioned by Britain Unbound, asked voters who should determine policy across ten areas without referring directly to the EU, in an attempt to measure attitudes towards where decisions should be made.
In every case, a clear majority said the UK Government alone should be responsible. Around 80 per cent took that view on state aid for regional development, while 75 per cent said the same should apply to refusing criminals entry to the UK and 78 per cent to setting VAT rates.
Only between 2 per cent and 12 per cent said Britain should follow decisions made by international institutions on those issues.
The findings have been seized on by opponents of the Prime Minister’s plans to align Britain with a series of EU rules in a deal expected to be unveiled on November 20.
When Mr Burnham won the Makerfield by-election in June, he said the Leave-voting constituency would act as a “touchstone” for government policy. He said every announcement should pass a “Makerfield test” by demonstrating that it improved residents’ lives and work.
Britain Unbound described the results as a “stunning rejection” of the expected transfer of powers from elected MPs in Britain to what it called unelected EU institutions in Brussels.
Jonathan Hinder, Labour MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, said: “Voters in Labour’s heartlands… do not support signing up to rules we have no say over.”
Lord Redwood, the Conservative peer and co-chairman of Britain Unbound, said: “Makerfield voters reject giving away our hard-won right to self-government to the EU.”
The survey comes as Chris Ward, a Labour MP who helped devise Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit red lines, calls for them to be abandoned at the next election. Those red lines rule out returning to the EU single market, customs union or freedom of movement.
