Former PM Cameron Urges Burnham Not to Seek EU Rejoining: It Would Be a Long and Painful Argument
Former British prime minister David Cameron urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham on November 11 not to pursue Britain's return to the European Union, in an interview with Bloomberg. Instead of launching an argument about rejoining, which he called "a very long and painful argument, and who knows where it would end up," Britain should focus on being the EU's "best friend, best neighbour, best partner," he said.
Cameron warned that if Britain kept signalling it was on a path to rejoining, EU countries would see little point in offering a good partnership deal, and Britain could end up with a worse one. He also said he did not think rejoining the customs union was the right answer.
Cameron called the 2016 Brexit referendum and led the Remain campaign, resigning as prime minister after Leave won. He said he still believed Brexit could work, and that Britain's economic problems had "nothing to do with Brexit," blaming overspending, over-borrowing, over-taxing, red tape and working-age welfare.
Burnham has made closer EU ties a priority of his premiership. He is due in Dublin on November 12 to push for closer relations, ahead of a UK-EU summit in Brussels on November 20. He said last year he would like to see Britain rejoin the EU in his lifetime, while insisting in May that he did not want to reopen the Brexit debate. A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research published the same day argued the opposite of Cameron, calling rejoining the EU the best way for Britain to cope with Russian aggression, American unreliability and Chinese coercion.
(Source: Bloomberg)
Source: Bloomberg
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：英国前首相 David Cameron 2023年官方肖像（已预裁为16:9横幅，人物头部完整）。照片：英国政府，OGL 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Official 2023 portrait of former prime minister David Cameron (pre-cropped to 16:9 with head intact). UK Government, OGL 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
