“There’s an obvious democratic deficit in it, but pragmatically, all [Norwegian] Parliaments since 1995 have said this is a reasonable way of doing it,” Støre said. “I don’t see Britain do that. I don’t see Canada do that.” 

The U.K. and Canada are both in the process of seeking closer ties to the bloc of 27 countries, which the U.K. voted to leave a decade ago. 

Burnham has said in the long term he wants to see the U.K. rejoin — and is aiming to scope ideas for better trade terms later this month at a summit with EU leaders. He has said all options should be looked at. 

Støre said in addition to being part of the single market, Norway has had to sign 100 additional agreements with Brussels, covering climate, students, security and other matters. 

“I can tell you after Brexit, British friends called me and said, tell us about the Norwegian way of doing it. And I said, if you left the EU because there was too much Brussels, don’t take the Norwegian version,” he said. 

“Because here, you know, basically we are taking most of their decisions, we implement them. But a country of 5 million people that has been a completely open economy, always adapting to standards, to be part of the global economy, very open economy, we can live with that.”