BBC News ,"Brexit seems to be something that Andy Burnham's government is far more willing to talk about than Keir Starmer's government ever was" "Labour's red lines only last till the next general election" "And it's looking increasingly likely that Andy Burnham will go into that election with a pledge for something new, something different" "Could that include Freedom of Movement? Angela Rayner said: nothing is off the table" "The Liberal Democrats says Freedom of Movement would be good for growth in the economy" My view: One of the great ironies of Brexit is that Britain ended Freedom of Movement in the name of reducing immigration, only to experience record levels of immigration under the system introduced by the very Brexiters who promised to reduce it. Under Freedom of Movement, migration was reciprocal. Europeans could come to Britain to work, study and build careers, while British citizens enjoyed precisely the same rights across the EU. Many people moved between countries as employment opportunities changed, including seasonal and temporary workers who did not necessarily settle permanently. Boris Johnson's government replaced that system with one that increasingly recruited workers and students from outside the EU, including routes allowing longer-term residence and family dependants. Net migration subsequently soared, reaching 944,000 in the year to March 2023, before falling substantially following tighter visa rules. But Freedom of Movement was never simply about immigration. It was about freedom, opportunity and economic prosperity for British citizens too. It gave young Britons the opportunity to live, work and study across Europe without expensive visa applications or employer sponsorship. It allowed businesses to recruit talent easily, helped British companies expand into European markets, supported our NHS, hospitality, agriculture and construction industries, and made cross-border careers considerably easier. It also offered something much harder to quantify: the freedom to experience different cultures, learn languages, build relationships, start businesses and retire elsewhere in Europe without the barriers Brexit subsequently erected. And importantly, Freedom of Movement was a two-way relationship, not the one-way immigration arrangement its opponents so frequently portrayed. Brexit didn't just take opportunities away from Europeans wanting to come here. It took opportunities away from millions of British people who had enjoyed those rights for decades. Restoring Freedom of Movement would not automatically guarantee lower migration, but it would restore valuable freedoms, strengthen economic ties and give the next generation opportunities that Brexit unnecessarily removed. That deserves a serious national conversation, rather than another campaign built around frightening people about immigration.