// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
UK cannot 'cherry pick' EU single market deal, Barnier tells BBC
Michel Barnier says there will be 'no cherry-picking' in a deal for the UK to returns to the EU
The EU's former Brexit negotiator has warned that the UK cannot "cherry pick" which elements of the single market to which it subscribes, after Andy Burnham said he wanted to explore closer economic ties with Europe.
The prime minister has said rejoining the bloc's internal market was among options he could pursue as part of a reshaping of ties since the UK's exit from the EU nearly six years ago.
But Michel Barnier told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that EU members would insist on the UK readopting certain conditions, such as the free movement of people, to gain access.
He said there was not a "single market à la carte" menu from which the UK could pick and choose what elements it wanted to adopt.
Barnier - who led the EU delegation during Brexit talks between 2016 and 2021, and had a three-month spell as French prime minister in 2024 - said the "door is open" within Europe to the UK rejoining as an EU member.
But he insisted that any move to rejoin the single market - which allows for goods to be freely traded without border controls - would require the UK to follow the same terms as other members.
He added that this included compliance with regulations designed to promote the circulation of goods, services, capital and people, referred to collectively within EU institutions as the "four freedoms".
"There will be no possibility to have one freedom and not the other. The four freedoms are clearly the four conditions to be inside a single market."
Since becoming prime minister in July, Burnham has suggested he could commit Labour to pursuing a much closer future relationship with Europe, including asking to rejoin the organisation as a full member, though he has ruled out major changes before the next election.