Former British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Andy Burnham not to reopen the debate over Britain rejoining the European Union. Ahead of the British prime minister's meetings with European leaders, Cameron said London should seek a closer partnership with Brussels without questioning the outcome of the Brexit referendum.
“Instead of starting a debate about rejoining, which would be very long and painful, we should focus on being the European Union's best friend, neighbour and partner,” Cameron told Bloomberg.
He warned that if the British government constantly talks about possible renewed membership, this could harm negotiations with European countries. According to Cameron, Britain's partners could assume that the country will return to the EU anyway and therefore have no reason to offer it better terms for current cooperation.
Cameron rejected a link between Brexit and the economy
Cameron said that Britain's economic problems were not related to leaving the EU. He identified excessive government spending, indebtedness, high taxes, excessive regulation and welfare costs for people of working age as the main difficulties.
“If you look at the economic problems we have today, I don't think they have anything to do with Brexit,” the former prime minister said. He called on the government to control spending and debt, cut taxes and make things easier for entrepreneurs, housebuilding and infrastructure projects.
Cameron's position is particularly notable because he was prime minister during the 2016 referendum and led the campaign to remain in the EU. After its defeat, he resigned. “I was deeply disappointed that we lost that campaign, but I am a democrat and I believe in democracy. We voted to leave and now the right thing to do is to make the partnership work,” he said.
Burnham prepares a new course towards Brussels
Andy Burnham, who has been prime minister of the United Kingdom since July 2026, said he would present various options for future relations with the EU. He described maintaining the status quo as insufficient and plans to use the summit in Brussels for talks on deeper cooperation.
The planned EU–UK meeting will take place on 20 November in Brussels. Expected topics include trade in food and beverages, linking emissions trading systems and a youth exchange scheme. The British government is also discussing a broader dialogue on long-term relations with the EU.
Sources: dailymail.com, gov.uk, theguardian.com