Yet even if Burnham does stand up on Tuesday and promise a closer relationship with Europe, it could be easier said than done.

Current talks on Starmer’s relatively modest “reset” over an agriculture and food trade deal, youth visas, and coordination on emissions have proved harder to seal than anticipated.

A summit scheduled for July and postponed when Burnham took over is yet to get a new date, despite him having a sit-down meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the United Nations General Assembly last week.

An ever-expanding set of issues

The scope of talks has started to creep ever larger. London wants Brussels to give guarantees British businesses won’t be hit by new Made in Europe rules — while Brussels says it can’t be done.

“In the short term I’m quite gloomy. I think the summit which was supposed to happen in November may not happen at all,” Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank told a fringe event. “Unless someone is willing to compromise there may not be a summit at all this year, I hope I’m wrong on that.”

Jukka Salovaara, the EU’s recently-appointed ambassador in London stuck a more optimistic tone. “My own expectation is for a summit to happen in November,” he said.

“True that there are many issues that need to be solved but that’s why we are working on them and making sure that we take a step forward. Summits are never an end in itself, it’s always about what we achieve together and where we can go.”