Nigel Farage set to lead Brexit fightback with shock return to Brussels: ‘I’m up for it!’

Speaking to journalists, the Reform UK leader said: “The trouble is, what Burnham’s trying to do is, what Labour are trying to do: incrementally take us back in.

“But November 20 isn’t incremental. It’s a big step. So now’s the time we can stand up and fight.

“Fighting against incremental change is very, very hard.

“Standing up and raising the flag on a really big transfer of power makes my life a lot easier. I’ll be in Brussels on that day.”

The Reform UK leader left Brussels in January 2020 following the UK’s departure from the EU.

However, the veteran Brexit campaigner faced problems during a recent return to the Belgian capital in April 2024.

Mr Farage hit out at “cancel culture” after officers moved to shut down the National Conservatism conference.

Mr Burnham’s EU reset has ruffled the feathers of Brexiteers after it was revealed Labour was negotiating a youth mobility scheme for 100,000 EU nationals.

Brussels is also pushing for the UK to halt the deportation of EU nationals in British prisons.

Despite concerns about dynamic alignment and signing up to EU rules, Labour insists a new deal on agri-foods will deliver a £5billion boost.

However, the Prime Minister has also opened the door to rejoining the European Union.

The Prime Minister appears to have invited a revolt from Red Wall backbenchers after previously promising voters in Makerfield that he would not reopen the debate on EU membership.

Mr Burnham used his first conference speech as Labour leader to confirm rejoining the bloc was an option on the table.

Speaking a few weeks later, Mr Burnham said: “In my lifetime I would like to see that happen but I am not going to move ahead of the public, I am not going to dictate.

“We have a decade of experience now looking back at Brexit. I don’t think it has played out as people said it would at the time. We got a harder Brexit. It has weakened our economy.

“I am not proposing rejoining in this Parliament. I said we wouldn’t re-run the referendum. That’s not what I’m doing. The British public will be the bosses here.”

However, Mr Farage warned the Prime Minister he risks fury in Labour’s Brexit-backing heartlands.

“If he thinks that’s going to win the Midlands of the North of England and South Wales, he’s in for another thing,” Mr Farage said.

“I never thought we’d relitigate the Brexit referendum debate. He clearly wants to. I’m up for it.”

Mr Farage, who described the Prime Minister’s reset as a “large reversal of Brexit”, concluded: “Look, the reset is a disaster.

“It starts to tie us closely to a failing economic model.

“It sells out British fisheries for a further 11 years. Goodness knows what the cost of all this is going to be.

“It puts us back under the ECJ. It puts us back under them, a dynamic alignment.”