‘Deeper, more ambitious, with a renewed sense of pace’
– Mr Burnham’s new Minister for the EU

Who is this man whom no-one outside the Labour Party had heard of?

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2026

What will he push for, to thwart our Brexit independence further and faster?

On 20 July Andy Burnham gave the British people a new ‘Minister for European Relations’ to deal with the government’s EU Re-Set which commenced under Sir Keir Starmer. This position comes with (unofficial) Cabinet attendance and the new person’s actions will soon impact on all readers’ lives.

In this report, think-tank Facts4EU and colleagues at Stand for Our Sovereignty (SOS) and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK), look at who this new Minister is, as well as the impacts on consumers and businesses of the various government policies being pursued to align ever more closely with the EU. We also recommend reading the GB News version.

The role involves leadership of the UK’s negotiations to implement policies which are in direct opposition to the result of the EU Referendum in 2016. If readers are in any doubt, here are his comments soon after being appointed.

How did this man slip in under the radar?

During the period around Andy Burnham’s appointment the news was full of rumours and speculation, heightened by the fact there was little of substance being said by the new PM. Much of the media speculation concerned the roles of Chancellor and the other main offices of state.

Names such as Ed Miliband were never off the news pages. In this mêlée, vital appointments such as that of the Minister for EU Relations (as it should be called) received scant attention.

Who is Hamish Falconer?

The name of the new Minister will be unfamiliar to almost all readers and this is not particularly surprising. The Rt Hon Hamish Falconer MP was only elected at the 2024 general election as one of the large cohort of new Labour MPs that gave Sir Keir his massive majority.

In fact Hamish Falconer was made a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the FCDO in February last year. His rapid rise appears to be due to him having spent his entire working life in the political and diplomatic arenas, and being involved with different Labour organisations.

What the public and businesses can expect from a 'fast-paced' Falconer

The EU Re-Set started very quickly but as with all things EU, wheels tend to move slowly. Below we summarise some areas of EU alignment the new Minister is hoping to speed up.

1. Agri-foods (SPS - food products and agriculture)

Whilst a very small part of UK trade, the government has agreed in principle to ‘dynamically-align’ with EU laws and regulations on agri-food. This will benefit the EU far more than it will the UK, as the EU sells us substantially more foods and agricultural produce than we sell to them. It means the UK will have to conform to different and changing EU standards (often lower than those of the UK) and will have no vote and no veto over Brussels’ decisions.

Crucially this will impact/stop the innovation for which the UK is well-known, including genetic modifications that prevent disease. In addition, it will prevent the UK from importing cheaper produce from outside the EU, leading to conflicts internationally.

2. Emissions trading, carbon border adjustment mechanism, EU electricity market

This complicated area will take a lot of negotiation before a final deal is signed, but inevitably will result in significantly higher costs for UK businesses. These relate to the higher rates the EU puts on what they deem to be the carbon effects of imported products. On the EU’s internal electricity market proposals, little is known. The UK currently imports and exports electricity with the EU via cables. Any new financial arrangement will certainly require the UK to pay.

3. Youth Mobility Scheme

Having ‘mobility’ in the title causes problems for the UK government, who prefer ‘youth experience scheme’. This sounds less like a return to freedom of movement for the under 35s, which is precisely what the EU wants.

Issues remain over the period EU nationals can stay in the UK, as well as a cap on numbers, which the EU insists is not acceptable. As an EU member accepting freedom of movement, far more of the EU’s young people came to the UK than went the other way. As for the student exchange known as Erasmus+, this is hugely expensive – some 7-8 times the cost of the UK’s Turing Scheme, which allows UK students to go around the world. With Turing, the UK is only paying for UK students. With Erasmus+ we'll be paying for the EU's too.

4. Defence and Foreign Policy

It is well-known that for decades EU countries have been weak on defence. Those who are NATO members consistently failed to fund their armed forces to the recommended levels set by NATO. The UK was by far the leader of the pack. It is only very recently that we have seen a large uplift in spending by some EU countries. Some, like Spain, have refused.

The EU wants to combine all EU Member countries’ forces into one, under control from Brussels. The proposal on the table is the EU-UK Security and Defence Partnership. Once again there is only one winner: the EU. Despite this, the EU requires the UK to pay for its defence contractors even to bid for EU contracts, with no guarantees that any of the work will end up in the UK.

The EU ‘Re-Set’ in a nutshell – from the EU’s perspective

1. The EU wants, and needs, the UK’s money. This is especially true given the proposed massive rise in the Commission’s next 7-year budget, currently being discussed.

2. The EU wants to control as much of the UK’s activities as it can, preventing free-market competition, business-friendly regulation, and enforcing the ‘precautionary principle’ to hold back the UK’s traditional innovatory strengths from being exploited.

3. The EU has always been adamant about its ‘four freedoms’ – of goods, services, capital, and labour. These are considered indivisible. In practical terms this means that not only must all Members accept these, but that third-party countries such as the UK must always be disadvantaged in any deal, compared to being a Member.

This final principle is so deeply-enshrined that it takes precedence over the first two objectives. In short, the EU wants the UK to become a rule-taker, to pay to Brussels as much as they can extract for that ‘privilege’, and to prevent competition and stifle innovation they disapprove of.

Who could conceivably agree to this?

There are two types of country that would accept the EU’s principles. The first comprises those poor countries on the edge of the EU who are desperate for all the massive subsidies they would receive over many years, to build up their economies – the ‘Applicants’.

The second category comprises just one country, the United Kingdom, whose government is so ideologically pre-disposed towards the EU and ultimately rejoining, that it will accept treaties which damage the country’s own interests - 'The Supplicant'.

[ Sources: HMG | Parliament | Guardian ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 25 Aug 2026

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