DAVID Cameron last night urged the PM to forget about rejoining the EU and focus on other issues instead.
The ex-Tory PM said it would be a “very long and painful” debate which may scupper chances of a better deal with .
Despite being a Remainer, he insisted leaving the EU was for the country’s economic woes.
is set for an in Brussels on November 20, where he hopes to strike deals on trade barriers and a youth mobility scheme.
He has also promised to explore longer-term options, including potentially rejoining the EU after the next election.
But Lord Cameron, who led the 2016 anti-Brexit campaign, said that argument “would be very long and painful, and who knows where it would end up?”
He said we should instead “focus on how do we be the best friend, best neighbour, best partner?”
Brussels could also be less willing to offer a good deal if “you start endlessly producing this idea that we are actually on a path to rejoining”.
Lord , who quit in the wake of the historic EU vote, also rejected calls to join a customs union. He said: “If you look at the economic problems we have today, I don’t really think they’ve got anything to do with at all.”
He blamed our economic problems on over-spending, over-borrowing, over-taxing, over-regulation and far too much being spent on working-age welfare.
The ex-PM said: “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.”
It comes as Mr Burnham’s Cabinet ministers clash over how far Britain should go in rebuilding ties with the EU.
