Britain's newly appointed cabinet minister for EU relations, Hamish Falconer, has said the UK government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham will pursue a deeper and more ambitious relationship with the European Union, with particular focus on expanding cooperation in services — potentially including visa-free work travel and mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Falconer, a former Foreign Office diplomat and Middle East negotiator, said he wants to inject renewed pace into stalled reset talks while staying within Labour's red lines that rule out rejoining the single market or customs union. A long-awaited UK-EU summit, originally planned for July before Keir Starmer's resignation as prime minister, is now unlikely to take place before October, with youth mobility arrangements and university fee terms among the key sticking points still to be resolved.