UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says debate over restoring EU worker mobility should include migration data cooperation, as official figures show Britain’s net migration fell sharply in 2025.
He raised the issue in an Oct. 19 interview with The Sunday Times, saying Britain should consider its former participation in Eurodac and other migration data cooperation as part of a broader reset of ties with the EU.
Burnham described pre-Brexit arrivals of EU workers as challenging. He also said migration involving people who came to Britain and later returned differed from the country’s current migration mix, calling for an “honest discussion” about how patterns had changed.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded 171,000 long-term net migrants in 2025, compared with 331,000 in 2024. Immigration figured in the 2016 referendum campaign, when voters narrowly chose to leave the EU.
Al Jazeera reported that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called Burnham’s remarks a “total betrayal of Brexit Britain.” Burnham had previously signaled openness to an EU free-movement debate; his latest comments brought migration data-sharing into the discussion.
Al Jazeera reported Burnham is due to meet senior EU officials on Nov. 20.
