David Cameron warns Andy Burnham not to seek to rejoin the EU and tells PM that Brexit 'has nothing to do with UK's economic woes'

David Cameron has urged Andy Burnham not to seek to rejoin the EU and told the Prime Minister to stop blaming Brexit for the UK's economic woes.In a major intervention ahead of Mr Burnham's upcoming talks with European leaders, Lord Cameron warned against reopening a 'painful argument' over EU membership.The former Conservative PM saw his own premiership derailed by his loss in the 2016 EU referendum, during which he led the Remain campaign.He admitted to being 'desperately disappointed' that British voters rejected his call to stay in the EU by opting for Brexit.But he added he was 'a believer in democracy' and said the UK should continue outside the EU while being 'best friends' with the bloc.Lord Cameron, who surprisingly returned to frontline politics as foreign secretary in Rishi Sunak's government, also rejected calls for the UK to rejoin the EU's customs union.He said it was not the 'right answer' as Mr Burnham prepares to outline a range of options for Britain's long-term relationship with the EU.'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,' Lord Cameron told Bloomberg's Mishal Husain. David Cameron has urged Andy Burnham not to seek to rejoin the EU and told the Prime Minister to stop blaming Brexit for the UK's economic woes. Mr Burnham, who has previously expressed a wish to see the UK rejoin the EU in his lifetime, has said he will soon set out 'different options' for votersMr Burnham is due to meet with European leaders at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin on Thursday.He is then set to finalise his Brexit 'reset' deal with EU leaders at a Brussels summit next week.The PM is poised to sign off on a series of agreements on food and drink, emissions trading, and a 'youth experience scheme'.He has also said he will use the summit to 'set up a serious dialogue' about the UK's longer-term ties with the EU, having claimed that 'sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain'.Mr Burnham, who has previously expressed a wish to see the UK rejoin the EU in his lifetime, has said he will soon set out 'different options' for voters.But Lord Cameron urged the PM to stop 'flirting with rejoining' as it could harm the UK's efforts in negotiations with Brussels over the country's current relationship.'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,' he said.'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'.'If you're not going to, you know, commit to trying to make the partnership stronger because you're flirting with rejoining, I think there's some dangers there.'Lord Cameron was accused of overseeing a 'Project Fear' campaign during the EU referendum, as he and his Chancellor George Osborne warned Brexit would plunge the UK economy into 'serious danger'.But, a decade on from the Brexit vote, the former premier said Britain's current economic problems were not linked to the decision to quit the EU.'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,' he added.'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.'Lord Cameron continued: '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?''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. We voted to leave, and I think the right thing now is to try and become, you know, not just neighbours, partners, and friends of the EU, but the best friends, the best neighbours, the best partners.'And I think we can make that work.'