Andy Burnham smacks down David Cameron after Tory arch-Remainer REJECTS calls to reverse Brexit
Andy Burnham has hit back at David Cameron after the former Conservative prime minister and arch-remainer advised Labour against starting a "decade-long debate" over whether to rejoin the European Union.
Speaking to journalists at the European Political Community Summit in Dublin, the Prime Minister hit back at his predecessor, who set the cat among the pigeons with a shocking intervention on Brexit yesterday.
The Tory peer, who campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum and resigned within hours of Leave's victory warned Mr Burnham against “a long and painful argument” about rejoining the bloc and said the UK’s economic problems had “nothing to do with Brexit”.
But Mr Burnham hit back, telling reporters: "I think he is wrong to say that the low growth that we've had over the last decade has quote 'nothing to do with Brexit'. I would say the evidence says otherwise, and indeed the Treasury analysis says otherwise.”
Yesterday, Lord Cameron told Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain: “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.”
Mr Cameron previously warned every British family would be £4,300 per year worse off if the country voted to leave the EU.
Mr Burnham added: “It feels like his intervention is more about unity and the Conservative Party that it is about fighting for British interests.”
He was speaking after a day meeting European leaders in the Irish capital, many for the first time.
The European Political Community summit, which has met twice a year since 2022, is the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February of that year.
All European leaders are invited, not just those in the EU, to discuss shared challenges and opportunities.
Mr Burnham is putting the finishing touches to his Brexit reset, which is set to be announced at a summit in Brussels next Friday.
He said: “If we are able to come to a good working arrangement on emissions trading, on agri food, and on other things as well, that we can add growth to the British economy.”
And in another dig at Lord Cameron, Mr Burnham pledged to fight for Britain, saying: "Any former prime minister should know that if there's a possibility to lower prices for British consumers, lower costs for British businesses, add growth to the British economy, you are duty bound to go out there and fight for it, and go out there and fight for it I will”
Mr Burnham said his focus “is about the next, the next seven days, and can we take a step back to closer working relationships with Europe?”
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He went on: “Actually, I think that is what people thought they were voting for in 2016. We ended up with a far harder Brexit, I think, than people thought they were getting when they went to the polls.
“If you look at what Theresa May tried to negotiate, that was more towards where we are at the moment, in terms of what we're trying to agree.”
Theresa May’s attempted “soft Brexit” deal united both Leavers and Remainers in Parliament against it, saying it was the “worst of all worlds”.
It led to repeated “meaningful votes” where Parliament voted against multiple options and paved the way for the end of her premiership and the rise of Boris Johnson.
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