Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has been told he doesn’t have enough time to wait until the next general election before beginning the process of rejoining the European Union. Stella Creasy, a senior Labour Party member and chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, said Burnham has only six months to start taking action ahead of a pro-EU rally at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. Creasy made these comments to The Independent at the conference, where the Labour Movement for Europe is set to hold a rally addressed by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. The push for the UK to rejoin the EU has gained momentum in recent weeks. Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair has said Burnham needs to have a plan in place for the UK to rejoin the EU within a decade. This comes after a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) revealed that the UK is losing £6.5 billion a year in exports due to the lack of mutual recognition with the EU, its largest trading partner. Creasy warned that the global landscape has changed significantly in the past two years, and the UK can no longer afford to remain isolated in a world increasingly shaped by the major power blocs of China, the US, and the EU. She supported Sir Tony Blair’s view that the “red lines” set by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during the last election—such as not considering free movement or joining the EU’s customs union or single market—should be reconsidered immediately. She argued that delaying the issue for 10 years and entering negotiations with such conditions would not be effective. Creasy also warned that the EU’s “Made in Europe” provisions, designed to protect goods produced within the bloc, could cost the UK “hundreds of thousands of jobs.” She compared the current international situation to the post-World War II reconstruction effort but emphasized that the UK needs to aim for a modern, 2027 version of Europe rather than one based on the circumstances of 1945. She also suggested that Burnham should be “comfortable” with using an election manifesto as a mandate to rejoin the EU, without necessarily requiring another referendum.