UK officials open talks with EU on long-term ties, including possible free movement

British officials have started talks with the European Union about a long-term relationship that could include a return to free movement, according to the business secretary, who stressed that the British public "are the boss" over what the UK accepts.

Jonathan Reynolds said the immediate priority for negotiators was the EU summit in November, where the two sides hope to finalise an agreement easing some trading restrictions, along with a youth mobility deal. He added that the prime minister, Andy Burnham, had made clear he wanted a stable, lasting relationship with the bloc.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Reynolds said officials would be discussing future options with Brussels. "But here and now, the focus should be on the summit and the tangible difference improvements we're going to make," he said. He pointed to a food and drink deal and changes on emissions trading as measures that would make a significant difference.

Reynolds said the EU was making a series of policy changes that would affect the UK, and that the government needed to limit uncertainty as far as possible. The prime minister, he said, would set out after the summit how the long-term relationship might be resolved, and would be frank with the public about the trade-offs involved.

He said no assumptions had been made about the stage after the summit, and that no decision would be taken without voters having a say. He did not specify whether that would come through a general election or a referendum. "The British people are the people who will decide this," he said.

Some Labour backbenchers representing strongly pro-Brexit seats in the north and the Midlands are wary of reopening the debate over free movement or rejoining the EU. Melanie Onn, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, said she was "still not over the kind of very divisive debate" that followed the referendum and did not believe the scars had healed. She called the conversation "unnecessary" at this time.

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said it would be "very, very poor indeed" to begin discussing free movement. He noted that Burnham had told leave-voting Makerfield five months ago that he would not reopen these arguments, and that the Labour government elected two and a half years ago had promised not to re-enter the single market or customs union. Farage said the prime minister had no mandate and criticised the idea of officials already negotiating in Brussels.

Burnham called for an "honest discussion" about free movement in an interview with the Sunday Times, making clear that ruling it out would no longer be a red line in EU talks. He said rejoining the single market and accepting free movement could be done without another referendum if Labour included it in its manifesto, while fully rejoining the EU would require another in-out vote.

The prime minister acknowledged that free movement had posed "very significant challenges", but said it was a different type of immigration from today's. "The balance of migration has changed, hasn't it, since then?" he said, adding that the country had to have an honest discussion about it.