Tony Blair has urged Labour to betray the Brexit vote and commit to rejoining the European Union within a decade.

The former prime minister said Andy Burnham should abandon Labour’s red lines and negotiate with Brussels to enter another ‘formal relationship’.

Sir Tony said the Prime Minister should make clear that ‘everything is on the table’ – including free movement – as there is ‘no point in inching towards Europe’.

In the foreword to a new report from his think tank, Sir Tony said: ‘We should be clear that we want back into a formal relationship with the EU.’

The former PM, who played a major role in the Remain campaign opposing Brexit, said: ‘The red lines which we drew in 2016 are not the same as 2026.

‘We need a new approach which makes sense of the world as it has changed in this decade, and which treats our future relationship in Europe not as a question about whether Britain ‘reverses’ Brexit but about whether we can secure a modern relationship with Europe.’

Sir Tony insisted it is ‘not about rerunning the debates of 2016 but taking a new approach rooted in the reality of 2026’ and that Britain should use rejoin negotiations as a ‘lever’ to reform the EU.

He added that it would be wrong to return to a straight membership of the single market and customs union – and Britain should only rejoin if the bloc reforms too.

Sir Tony said: ‘It must be a Europe on a credible path to reform, a Europe of nation states, a Europe capable of being a genuine global power.

‘Otherwise, though Britain should continue to cooperate with the EU where it is in our mutual interest… Britain will show that it can and is prepared to remain independent.’

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: ‘Andy Burnham has left the door open to rejoining the EU and now Tony Blair is piling the pressure on him to drag us back into the bloc.

‘Labour should stop trying to turn back the clock and instead focus on setting out serious proposals for the future.’

It marks a change in position from Sir Tony on Brexit after he warned earlier this year that the UK is ‘too weak’ to discuss rejoining the EU as Britain cannot negotiate until it regains its lost strength.

Read More: Tony Blair tells Labour to commit to rejoining EU within a decade and scrap Brexit red lines, not ‘re-run debates of 2016’