discussion

The prime minister says he would welcome an “honest discussion” about the prospect of returning to free movement between the UK and European Union.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Andy Burnham said a new relationship with Brussels could include full EU membership or joining the single market, requiring free movement.

Asked about Burnham’s remarks, Angela Rayner told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg “you can’t take anything off the table”, adding the prime minister was saying “we’ve got to be pragmatic to get the best deal for Britain and he wants to have the conversation.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch responded that the prime minister “hasn’t thought this through”, while Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick dismissed the idea as “mad”.

Migration dominated debate during the 2016 Brexit campaign, with the Leave campaign raising issues about rules allowing any EU citizen to move to the UK.

Burnham has previously committed to Labour’s 2024 election manifesto which ruled out a return of free movement, single market membership or a customs union.

He has said that any changes would require a mandate at a general election, would is due by 2029.

“I think you have to have a very factual, quite evidence-based debate about this,” he told the Sunday Times, external, adding he believed the type of migration had changed from revolving door movement of young people.

“Revolving door migration where people would come and then go back is different,” he said. “The balance of migration has changed, hasn’t it, since then? I think we’ve just got to have an honest discussion about those things.”

But he stressed: “I can’t see myself ever recommending anything that would involve joining the euro or Schengen.”

The Schengen Agreement allows passport-free travel across EU countries. The UK was able to keep the pound when it was an EU member, but the bloc has pushed new members to adopt the Euro.

His remarks were made ahead of an EU summit on 20 November in Brussels, where the prime minister is expected to pitch options for a reset of relations with the bloc.

On Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Rayner said she wanted to see the best possible deal with the European Union, which may well involve concessions.

“What the prime minister is saying now, and what I want, is that we have an honest conversation about the facts of what the trade-offs are to get the best deal for Britain going forward,” she said.

“The frustration for me in the previous debate we had when we had the referendum is that a lot of those facts didn’t get the airtime… So I would like us to have an honest conversation about what the trade-offs could be and then put that to the people at a general election.”

Writing on X, Badenoch dismissed it as “yet another example of Burnham’s foot in mouth syndrome”.

She added: “Most people who voted for Brexit did so because they didn’t want free movement. Too many politicians have failed to understand the significance and impact of immigration on communities.”

Conservative MP and former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who backed Remain, warned the Brexit debate was “incredibly divisive” and insisted the current Brexit deal can still be made to work.

“I was at the top of a government that was paralysed for several years while we were trying to wrestle with the implications of that vote and I think, having made the decision, we should stick with it and make the most of it – I think we can make it a success,” he told Kuenssberg.

Pointing to the one million young people not in work or training, he added: “Surely our priority in that situation is to get those jobs filled by the young people we have here instead of parking them on welfare.

“Which is why I think it’s astonishing to lead on the issue of free movement… Something that is actually going to stop young people here getting jobs.”

But Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper told Kuenssberg she believed allowing freedom of movement would be “a really good thing for growth” and pushed for the UK to rejoin the single market, the customs union, and also be involved in the bloc’s defence pact.

The UK currently has “the worst of both worlds” on immigration, she said, as it was excluded from the EU’s “new asylum pact with biometric data” that could be used to “tackle the small boats crisis”.

Reform UK’s economy spokesperson Robert Jenrick told Kuenssberg he had never believed freedom of movement “was a good thing”, despite supporting the Remain position before the 2016 referendum when he was a Conservative MP.

“I think it’s completely mad, the idea that this country needs more immigration,” he said, claiming data shows mass migration “has been a disaster for working people, for Brits”.

“The last thing they want is their wages being undercut by a load of low wage, low-skilled migrants from overseas,” he added.

JACKSON, Miss. — Portions of a Mississippi ban on diversity, equity and inclusion practices in public schools can go into effect after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court’s ruling that blocked sections of the law from being enforced.

The parts of the law in question prevent public schools from requiring diversity training and maintaining DEI-related programs, courses and offices. It also bans public schools from discussing a list of “divisive concepts” related to race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and national origin. Public schools that violate the law could lose state funding.

The ban passed in April 2025 and is being challenged by a group of educators, students, parents and activists who say the law violates their 1st and 14th Amendment rights.

The plaintiffs have several weeks to file a petition for rehearing with the 5th Circuit. The law would take effect seven days after the petition deadline passes or if a petition is denied, according to McKenna Raney, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.

The 5th Circuit also ordered that the case be reassigned to a different district court judge after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued a “botch job” temporary restraining order that contained artificial intelligence hallucinations, according to the Thursday ruling. The TRO predates Wingate’s August 2025 preliminary injunction, which the 5th Circuit overturned.

Additionally, the ruling provides clarity on the scope of the law, which opponents have criticized as overly vague.

The law does not apply to scholarly activities, student activities and groups or creative engagements, according to the 5th Circuit. The court also said concerns raised by the plaintiffs that the law would ban discussions of civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Ku Klux Klan, the 14th Amendment, Juneteenth and “Of Mice and Men” are incorrect.

“It is heartening to know that at the very least these specific iterations of classroom discussions that have been happening for years in Mississippi are exempted and they can continue unimpeded,” said Raney, an LGBTQ Justice Project staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi. However, Raney said the types of discussions allowed under the law are still “murky.”

Bates writes for the Associated Press.

US secretary of state says Ukraine has requested access to military-grade version of Starlink for strikes deep inside Russia.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Starshield, the military-grade version of the Starlink satellite service, is currently unavailable to Ukraine, but a request from Kyiv to access the system for attacks deep inside Russia is “under discussion”.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Rubio stressed Starshield’s distinction with Starlink, the internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“Starlink is a commercial product, okay? And so it’s regulated and handled as a commercial product. Starshield is a defence product, a military product,” said Rubio, in comments released by the Department of State.

“They’ve asked for access to it in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia. They do not have access to it at this moment,” he added. “That’s under conversation.”

Launched in 2022 and provided to the US government, Starshield is designed for military use as it allows for deeper encryption to process sensitive information. SpaceX says it is primarily used by US defence agencies and other “government partners”.

Last week, Ukrainian officials said restrictions on Starlink terminals had slowed some drones on the battlefield, as Ukraine tries to hold back Russian forces in their nearly five-year war.

In his comments at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Rubio also rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s suggestion that the reported disruption to Starlink services in Ukraine on Wednesday was deliberate.

“Well, I don’t know what Zelenskyy said. I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate. We have nothing to do with that,” Rubio said.

Zelenskyy said on Saturday that the satellites are not tracking antennas on flying objects travelling faster than 161 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour). This is affecting Ukrainian drones in their defence against Russian jet-powered drones and in their own medium-range attacks, he added.

Rubio said the US had not ordered Starlink speeds to be reduced and that the service had reportedly been restored to its previous level.

“No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or slow down speed so that certain drones couldn’t use it,” he said, calling the reports “categorically false”.

The remarks came as US President Donald Trump drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans after waiving sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its oil and gas, days before the restrictions were due to take effect under a law he signed last month.

Zelenskyy also criticised the sanctions waiver on Saturday, saying easing pressure on Russia would encourage further attacks.

“Financial rewards for [President Vladimir] Putin – all of this only encourages him to keep attacking,” Zelenskyy posted on social media, urging the US to maintain pressure on Moscow.