THE TELEGRAPH: Former Tory chancellor urges Andy Burnham to re-enter EU customs union after Brexit’s ‘devastating impact’ on trade
George Osborne has said Britain should rejoin the EU customs union, claiming that the country has “gone off a cliff” since Brexit.
The former Tory chancellor, who resigned hours after Lord Cameron following the referendum, said rejoining the trading bloc would be a “straightforward decision” for Andy Burnham.
He told The Independent: “Britain has basically gone off a cliff. It has had a huge impact on the British economy. It is clearly poorer than it would otherwise be.”
His suggested solution was to rejoin the customs union. “It’s a quite simple thing to do. That was never part of the Brexit debate.
“No one knew we were leaving it and it has had a devastating impact on trade,” he said.
He added that Brexiteers had backed leaving the customs union because of “these great trade deals we were going to strike with America”, which he said “looks pretty fanciful now”.\
The former chancellor said: “If I was Andy Burnham, I don’t see why you wouldn’t rejoin the customs union. » | Genevieve Holl-Allen Political Correspondent | Wednesday, September 13, 2026
I see that the ‘great and the good’ are all coming around to my way of thinking now! The UK’s place is, and always has been, inside the European Union. We Britons are Europeans, and the European Union is our home. It is a wonderful, supranational union which has evolved and grown since World War II in order to ensure that there will not be another horrendous war in Europe and to bring about peace, harmony, good relations, and security within Europe, and to foster human rights for ALL. And, very importantly, to bring about prosperity to all in Europe. We Europeans are a family with similar values, similar hopes, and similar dreams and aspirations. — © Mark Alexander
