LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday urged his successor Theresa May to try to keep Britain close to the EU even while negotiating to leave it, following last month’s Brexit vote.

“My advice to my successor, who is a brilliant negotiator, is that we should try to be as close to the European Union as we can be, for the benefits of trade, of co-operation and of security,” he told MPs.

“The Channel will not get any wider once we leave the European Union and that is the relationship that we should seek, that would be good for the United Kingdom.”

It was “vital” that British businesses continued to have “proper access to the single market,” added the prime minister.

Cameron was speaking during his final appearance in parliament as prime minister, before he tenders his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II and May takes over later Wednesday.

Cameron announced he would step down after failing to prevent Britons from voting to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum, a seismic decision that plunged the country’s future into uncertainty.