Brexit is already dominating the battle to replace Keir Starmer

LONDON — Keir Starmer looks headed for a bitter Labour leadership contest. And, like it or not, Britain’s relationship with the EU will be on the ballot paper.

Britain’s prime minister is reeling from dire election results, and his potential rivals are circling. While no formal contest has yet been triggered, the shadow-boxing has begun.

Ambitious former minister Wes Streeting has made his first move. The popular mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, thinks he’s found a way into parliament. Former Deputy PM Angela Rayner is eyeing a comeback. And Starmer himself could choose to stand and fight.

All of them have strong views about Britain’s divorce from the European Union. All the while, veteran Brexiteer Nigel Farage — who now leads the insurgent right-wing Reform UK party — is hoping to exploit Labour splits on the issue.

Here’s how the key players are already positioning.

Wes Streeting

Streeting has deliberately put Brexit on the agenda — using his first appearance this weekend since resigning from Starmer’s Cabinet to declare that “leaving the European Union was a catastrophic mistake.”

“We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future lies with Europe – and one day back in the European Union,” he told an audience at Labour-aligned think-tank Progress.

He was quick to add that rejoining the bloc would require a new mandate, such as at a general election.

But in the meantime, what might his proposed new special relationship look like?

Streeting didn’t elaborate on policy details in the speech, but back in December, he told the Observer newspaper he would not support a “return to freedom of movement,” while leaving the door open to a customs union with the EU. Actually rejoining the EU would, of course, require both those things and much more.

Streeting’s dash to put Europe on the agenda has a political context. Widely regarded as a figure from the right wing of the Labour Party, it’s a rare policy issue on which he can connect with Labour’s more left-leaning membership. There are also good reasons to think it makes life uncomfortable for his main rival.

Andy Burnham

Burnham’s route back into parliament — and to challenging Keir Starmer — goes through Makerfield, a Leave-voting constituency in the north west of England where he’ll be competing with Farage’s eurosceptic Reform U.K.

Andy Burnham can be seen leaving his home as he makes his way to Wembley to watch the FA Cup Final on May 16, 2026 in Warrington, U.K. | Gary Oakley/Getty Images

With that dynamic in mind, Brexit may not be what Burnham wants to be talking about right this minute. It might also explain why Streeting was so keen to put the issue on the agenda.

Following Streeting’s comments, Burnham told ITV News that “in the long-term there is a case” for rejoining the EU, but that he is “not advocating that in this by-election.”

In the recent past, though, Burnham has said remarkably similar things about Brexit to Streeting, with as much gusto. At the Labour Party conference in September, he told an audience: “I’m going to be honest. I’m going to say I want to rejoin. I hope, in my lifetime, I see this country rejoining the European Union.”

While Burnham, 55, technically set a timetable in which he would like to see the U.K. rejoin, it is in practice no more specific than Streeting’s. Both have made pro-European noises that will appeal to Labour strongly pro-EU membership without actually committing to specific policies or timetables.

However, it’s possible that could change in a leadership election if the two get into a bidding war on EU policy.

Angela Rayner

Starmer’s former deputy prime minister is down but not out. She quit the Cabinet in September over a tax affair — a row she now says has been resolved — but is still widely regarded in Westminster as harboring leadership ambitions.

Of the three most likely contenders in the as-yet-theoretical leadership contest, Rayner has made the least positive noises about the EU.

She told ITV News this month that rather than go “back to the old arguments” of being in or out, she wanted to address the problems that leaving had caused.

“Many businesses are saying that it’s been a challenge, that Brexit and the way in which it was implemented has challenged their ability to be competitive to get access to the EU market and therefore we should be addressing those challenges not going back to the old argument [of] are we in or out,” she said.

That position hasn’t stopped her blasting Farage over the decision to leave, accusing the Reform UK leader of having promised “the moon on a stick.” She’s also declared that “when we left the European Union people were promised more money into the NHS, your living standards will be better — and the opposite has happened.”

Keir Starmer

What about the man himself? Starmer’s position on the EU has shifted several times already. Running for leader in 2019, he pledged to defend the free movement of people. Then, in opposition, he made it a red line, along with staying out of the EU’s customs union and single market. Before taking power, he talked about Brexit as little as possible.

In office, he’s arguably shifted again — making a closer relationship with Europe a defining feature of his stalling premiership.

Labour MP Angela Rayner attends the National Growth Debate at the Institute of Directors on April 21, 2026 in London. | Carl Court/Getty Images

His current program is to align the U.K. with EU rules in specific sectors of the economy, hoping that it brings trade and economic benefits. An agri-food deal and electricity trading pact are currently being negotiated with Brussels, with talks expected to expand to other areas in the summer.

While free movement is off the table for Starmer, he’s rejoined the Erasmus+ exchange scheme and is pledging to introduce a youth mobility agreement, albeit with a cap on the number of people who can benefit.

For now, the big red lines on the single market and customs union stay. But Starmer last week hinted that he could drop them from Labour’s manifesto at the next general election, which is still three years away.

He’s also coming under pressure from some within his party to ditch them sooner — pressure which will likely build on anyone who ousts him, too.