Andy Burnham last night raised the prospect of a referendum as he restarted the Brexit wars.

The Prime Minister provoked fury by declaring that the UK could go ‘all the way’ back into the European Union.

He raised other options for the country’s future relationship with Brussels, including rejoining the single market or customs union along with the ‘associate membership’ recently offered to Canada.

And he refused to rule out a fresh national vote despite admitting it would be ‘divisive’.

It came just a few months after he insisted – while campaigning to be elected in a heavily Leave-voting constituency – that he did not want to ‘re-run’ the arguments over Brexit or ‘undermine’ the result of a decade ago.

Despite telling the Labour Party conference on Tuesday that he wanted to ‘draw a line under a decade of division,’ he is set to reignite the fight of 2016.

Mr Burnham said in an interview: ‘I can’t avoid the Europe question if I’m to put out a credible ten-year plan for Britain, that’s why I’ve started this process.’

He told ITV: ‘What I think it’s right to do is open up the discussion because, a decade on, we’re not where we need to be, the country isn’t functioning as it should.’

Pressed on whether Labour’s next manifesto could promise another ‘in/out’ referendum, Mr Burnham told the BBC ‘yeah, things are possible’ but later acknowledged the need for care as ‘referendums do damage, divide households and communities’.

His comments were warmly received by European leaders with French president Emmanuel Macron declaring, in English, ‘welcome back’, while Spain’s Pedro Sanchez said Britain would be welcomed with ‘open arms’.

But last night Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told the Daily Mail: ‘Rejoining the EU won’t lower energy bills, it won’t bring back the businesspeople who’ve left, cut the welfare bill or fund our defence properly… Instead of trying to re-fight battles of the past, what we should be talking about is what we need to do to solve the genuine challenges our country is facing.’

Mark Francois, chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPs, said he had long been convinced Mr Burnham wants to rejoin the EU and warned: ‘Brussels would undoubtedly seek to fully exploit the attempt.’

Read More: PM reignites Brexit war: Burnham ‘won’t rule out a new EU vote’ – as Macron sends a ‘welcome’