Former prime minister David Cameron has said the UK should not become part of the EU, warning Andy Burnham that starting a conversation about rejoining would be “very long and painful”.
Cameron's warning on rejoining
In an interview on Wednesday, the former foreign secretary said: “Today, instead of launching an argument about rejoining, which I think would be a very long and painful argument, and who knows where it would end up, instead of that, focus on how do we be the best friend, best neighbour, best partner. If you start endlessly producing this idea that we’re actually on a path to rejoining, I think you’re in danger of getting a less good partnership deal because, of course, the EU countries will just think: well, these guys are gonna rejoin anyway, so what’s the point in giving them a good partnership deal.”
He added: “If you’re not going to commit to trying to make the partnership stronger because you’re flirting with rejoining, I think there’s some dangers there.”
Economic woes not linked to Brexit
The former Tory leader, who led the Remain campaign in 2016, said the UK's economic problems are not because of Brexit. He also insisted that joining a customs union is not the “right answer”.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he said: “If you look at the economic problems we have today, I don’t really think they’ve got anything to do with Brexit at all. I mean, our economic problems are we are overspending, over-borrowing, over-taxing, over-regulated, and far too much being spent on working-age welfare.
“Those are a set of problems that have nothing to do with Brexit. We need a government that actually gets spending under control, gets taxes down, helps entrepreneurs, deals with our borrowing problem, reforms the welfare, and massively deregulates so we can build houses, build infrastructure. None of those have got anything to do with Europe.
“So that’s sort of, in a way, that’s my point. Do we really want to go into another decade-long debate about whether we should be in or out, when actually we should deal with our own problems while making the partnership model work?”
Summit ahead and Burnham's priorities
Lord Cameron's intervention comes days before a crunch UK-EU summit on November 20 in Brussels. Mr Burnham has made closer ties with the EU a key priority of his premiership.
But Lord Cameron said: “I fought the campaign to stay in on an amended basis, and I obviously wanted to win that campaign. I was desperately disappointed that we lost that campaign. But I’m a democrat, a believer in democracy.”
