Andy Burnham warned NOT to rejoin EU single market by Norway's Prime Minister

Andy Burnham has been warned by Norway's Prime Minister against rejoining the European Union single market, ahead of his plans for a "reset" in relations.

Jonas Gahr Støre has told the Prime Minister "not to take the Norwegian version" of an agreement with the bloc, as his nation has "taken most of the decisions" implemented by the EU.

Norway is a member of the single market through the European Economic Area (EEA), but is not a full EU member state.

The nation therefore has no voting rights over the EU's commercial rules.

Speaking to Politico, the Norwegian Prime Minister revealed that he would not recommend his country's EU model to Britain, because of how different the two economies are.

Mr Støre said: "There’s an obvious democratic deficit in it, but pragmatically, all [Norwegian] Parliaments since 1995 have said this is a reasonable way of doing it.

"I don’t see Britain do that. I don’t see Canada do that."

He recalled being asked by "British friends" about his country's approach to the bloc, and how the UK can adopt the same strategy in negotiations.

Mr Støre revealed: "I can tell you after Brexit, British friends called me and said, tell us about the Norwegian way of doing it.

"And I said, if you left the EU because there was too much Brussels, don’t take the Norwegian version. Because here, basically we are taking most of their decisions, we implement them.

"But a country of five million people that has been a completely open economy, always adapting to standards, to be part of the global economy, very open economy, we can live with that."

He urged Mr Burnham to "find his own solution" to seeking closer British ties to the European Union.

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The Prime Minister is set to meet with the EU at a crunch summit later this month, where Mr Burnham is expected to announce a fresh food deal.

Mr Burnham has made the case for forging closer ties with the UK's continental neighbours based on "bringing down household costs".

He told the Sunday Mirror: "It pays to have a good relationship with your neighbours, and the practical deals we are agreeing with Europe will pay off for families across the UK.

"Cutting red tape on food coming in and out of the country will ease pressure on prices at the supermarket, while making life easier for farmers and food producers."

He added: "This summit will show what we can achieve when we work together, but it doesn't need to be the end of our ambition.

"Working more closely with Europe could drive growth, make our country safer and give us more tools to tackle illegal migration. That's a conversation worth having."

On Sunday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announcedannounced that the UK will rejoin Europe's Erasmus+ scheme, allowing young Britons to study, train or get work experience in the European Union.

She told GB News: "What we have announced this weekend is that we're widening participation in that scheme to make sure that young people from towns like Wigan, where I'm from, get the chance to go and do cultural exchanges with counterparts across Europe."