Chancellor John Healey warns EU deal must deliver benefits that outweigh the costs

Detailed summary

John Healey, who Andy Burnham appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer, agrees there must be a "limit" to how much the UK should contribute to the EU budget to secure improved access to the bloc

Chancellor John Healey insisted there were “very definite benefits” to securing a favoured deal with the EU — but not at any cost.

PM Andy Burnham will meet the bloc’s top brass in an UK-EU at a summit in Brussels in November 20. It is only second annual such event since Brexit.

Areas expected to be discussed include free movement, and possible confirmation of the removal of post-Brexit checks from food and agriculture exports. However, there will also be focus on how much the UK will have to contribute to the EU budget in exchange.

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Mr Healey, 66, told the Commons Treasury Committee: “There are very definite benefits if we can secure the deal that we want. There are benefits to the cost of business.”

Asked if there would be a “limit” to securing a deal with Brussels, Mr Healey said: “I think that has got to be true of any negotiator. You have to be sure that the benefits outweigh the costs.”

His comments follow signals which suggest Mr Healey is sceptical of the UK rejoining the EU.

Asked by Channel 4 after last month’s Budget whether he shared Mr Burnham’s suggestion that it could happen in his lifetime, Mr Healey said: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.” He is 66, while Mr Burnham is 56. Treasury officials later play downed the seriousness of Mr Healey’s comments.

It came as former Tory PM David Cameron said Britain should not rejoin the EU. He warned Mr Burnham that starting a conversation about rejoining would be “very long and painful”. Speaking in a Bloomberg interview, Mr Cameron — who led the Remain campaign in 2016 — urged Mr Burnham not to trigger another “decade-long debate about whether should be in or out.” He also said the UK should not enter a customs union with the EU.

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