Has Labour reignited the Brexit debate by mistake?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Andy Burnham has ruled out making a Makerfield by-election contest another Brexit referendum. But will it end up being one anyway? The Greater Manchester Mayor has already had to clarify his position on rejoining the EU after a weekend where the issue has dominated the news agenda. Reform certainly hope to turn it into another Brexit campaign. They’ve sent Robert Jenrick out onto the mean streets of Westminster to try and convince voters it’s an establishment stitch up. But who is "the establishment" now?
Later, Jess Phillips on why she resigned and who knew she was going.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:08.2 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:11.6 | Two men, these two pretenders to the throne, vying for the Labour leadership, |
| 0:16.6 | playing slightly different contests, slightly different games, playing two different audiences. |
| 0:21.6 | When you've threatened to resign as many times as I have to try and get something that you want, |
| 0:25.6 | you do have to sometimes go through with the threat for people to believe that it's real. |
| 0:28.6 | It is absolutely true that the Labour Party should have been more aggressive for some time, |
| 0:33.6 | including under the Kyrgyzama government, in going for Farage and pointing out the lies. |
| 0:38.7 | Right now, Brexit is the status quo. We are partying like it is 2016 again. |
| 0:46.4 | I am not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made at the referendum, |
| 0:53.4 | and it's going to undermine everything |
| 0:55.4 | said. I've said about strengthening democracy if we don't respect that vote. After a weekend where |
| 1:01.9 | the Brexit debate has once again engulfed the Labour Party. That was Andy Burnham speaking at a business |
| 1:09.5 | conference in Leeds today, doing everything he could to shut it down. |
| 1:14.3 | And if you're thinking he didn't sound quite as fluent, quite as conversational, quite as informal as he usually does, |
| 1:21.4 | it's because he was looking down at his notes, making sure he didn't miss a single word. |
| 1:28.3 | It is a minefield for any potential Labour leader. |
| 1:32.3 | But is Brexit going to hang around there next, whatever they say next? |
| 1:36.3 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:42.3 | The Newsagents. It's Lewis. |
| 1:46.7 | It's Maitless. |
| 1:47.6 | And the prime minister, well the almost prime minister, Andy Burnham, and a roadrunner |
... |
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