Brexit will be undone claims Sir Tony Blair as he describes EU exit as a 'constant sadness'
Sir Tony Blair said he thinks Britain will rejoin the EU in the future and describes Brexit as 'a constant sadness to me'
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Sir Tony Blair said he thinks Britain will rejoin the EU in the future and describes Brexit as “a constant sadness to me”.
The former Labour prime minister claims that “a future generation” would take Britain “back into Europe”.
It comes after Deltapoll published a survey showing a surge in support for rejoining the EU.
Blair described how he sees a world evolving, with three huge power blocs including the US, China and India.
Blair described how he sees a world evolving, with three huge power blocs including the US, China and India
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“But to return to Europe: the problem is, I can’t see how it’s just not vital to be part of your own continent when it comes not just to trade, but to… It’s the political effect of Brexit that has actually even surprised me a little," he told the New Statesman magazine.
According to the latest Deltapoll tracker survey - conducted between July 21 and 24 - a total of 56 per cent of people would vote to rejoin if a second referendum was held.
When asked if he saw any realistic prospect of the UK going back into the EU or joining the customs union or single market, Blair said: “Well, I believe at some point a future generation will take Britain back into Europe, and, you know, you just have to look at what’s happened.”
He added that he doesn’t see a short-term way of returning to the EU, although “we should get a proper working relationship with Europe” while “the British people are in a kind of negotiation with themselves about this”.
Peter Bone, a leading Conservative Brexiteer, said “more than 17 million people” had disagreed with Blair at the EU referendum in 2016.
“Since then we have ended the free movement of people, we are not paying billions of pounds to the EU and we are making our own laws,” Bone told The Telegraph.
“On what possible basis does Tony Blair believe we would want to sign up to less control of our laws and to return to a system where anyone can come to this country from the EU? I think he is out of touch with the British people.”
Blair's comments contradict Sir Keir Starmer, who has repeatedly said a Labour government would not reverse Brexit.
Blair's comments contradict Sir Keir Starmer, who has repeatedly said a Labour government would not reverse Brexit
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In May, the Labour leader said that “Britain’s future is outside the EU” as he ruled out single market or customs union membership. He said such arguments were “in the past, where they belong”.
He added that his party would seek to “improve” the current deal between Britain and Brussels to “make Brexit work”.
Some Tory MPs claim Labour's plan to renegotiate implied that Starmer “cannot be trusted on Brexit”.