LONDON: British interior minister Theresa May launched her bid to replace Prime Minister David Cameron and lead the Conservative Party on Thursday with a promise to honour last week's decision by voters to take the country out of the European Union.
"Brexit means Brexit," May, who campaigned for the "Remain" campaign ahead of the referendum, said in a speech.
"The campaign was fought, the vote was held, turnout was high and the public gave their verdict. There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door and no second referendum."
As Britain reels from the decision to leave the EU, speculation has grown that whoever takes over from Cameron might try to find a way to keep the country in the bloc which buys nearly half the country's exports.
Early polling has shown May is one of the favourites to succeed Cameron, along with "Leave" campaign leader Boris Johnson.
May said there should be no national election before 2020, the scheduled date for the end of the current parliament, and she distanced herself from the centrepiece plan of finance minister George Osborne to turn Britain's budget deficit into a surplus by the end of the decade.
"While it is absolutely vital that the government continues with its intention to reduce public spending and reduce the budget deficit, we should no longer seek to produce a budget surplus by the end of the parliament," she said.
Osborne's push for a budget surplus by 2020 had looked increasingly challenging even before the referendum result which could push Britain's economy into a recession.
May, said there should be no emergency budget measures in response to the vote and the expected economic slowdown, knocking down another proposal made by Osborne.
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