Shadow health secretary and Labour leader hopeful Andy Burnham is calling for his party to demonstrate a “distinctive Labour Yes” campaign to fight to stay in the EU.

 Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union before the end of 2017. But Burnham believes it is crucial for Labour to distance themselves from other parties, particularly the Tories. Burnham believes Labour’s alliance with the Tories and the Lib Dems in Scotland against the independence referendum played a catastrophic effect in nearly wiping out Labour whilst almost losing the vote itself.

'Labour Learning Lessons'

Labour are currently in a period of soul searching, trying to figure out what direction the party should go in. There are four leadership contenders, with Burnham the current frontrunner. He is keen to distance the party’s EU campaign away from the Tories and to provide a clear Labour alternative, despite the current focus being in finding a new leader.

Burnham said,"Labour will also learn the lessons of the Scottish independence referendum and it is my intention to have a separate 'Labour Yes' campaign…."Even though Labour is in a leadership campaign, I am not going to let the EU debate be defined by David Cameron.

“These are areas that David Cameron will not be focusing on and that is why we be raising them today to make the Labour case for Europe. Renegotiation cannot be a green light to turn the clock back and weaken employment rights.”

Many people in Scotland were angry at Labour’s alliance with the Scottish Tories in the “Better Together” campaign, which reflected in Labour’s meltdown in the general election as they lost 40 seats to the SNP. Labour will be hoping that they can learn the lessons of this and try to promote their separate vision for Britain’s membership of the EU, as far away from the Tories as possible.

LM/HA