Former Brexit chief calls for new party to prevent looming ‘catastrophe’ for UK

Opponents of Britain’s exit from the European Union should join a new party to resist an approaching national calamity, the former chief of staff of the ministry in charge of leaving the bloc declared.

James Chapman, a former journalist and aide to David Davis, the Brexit secretary, and George Osborne, the former finance minister, unleashed a series of withering criticisms of the exit policy on Twitter.

The tweets amounted to a litany of intractable problems that would result from Brexit, some of which appeared to be drawn from internal government assessments of the consequences of leaving the EU.

Directing questions to cabinet ministers, Mr Chapman alleged that British airlines would be unable to sell 80 per cent of flights by March, and predicted a decade of budget cutbacks as “businesses flee and revenues collapse”.

Pointing out economic pitfalls, he said US media giants were already leaving London, and that new trade deals beyond the EU would be more difficult than the Moon landings.

Mr Chapman suggested there was an opportunity to force a government U-turn when MPs are asked to approve departure from the lower-tier Europe Economic Area next year. “There is no majority in parliament for leaving the EEA, so the government is going to have to shift its position,” he said.

The Conservative aide, who resigned in May when the general election was called, also said Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, breached electoral law during the referendum campaign by saying £350 million (Dh1.67 billion) would be freed up by leaving the EU and be put into health care.

Mr Chapman’s call for parliamentarians to regroup into a new political force dedicated to stopping Brexit received a mixed response. “Past time for sensible MPs to admit Brexit is a catastrophe, come together in a new party if need be and reverse it,” he wrote.

Vince Cable, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, seized on the call. “The public should have a chance to exit from Brexit,” he said.

Wes Streeting, a Labour MP, said politicians did not need to formally join a new party, but have “the courage to put the country first if all fails”.

Janan Ganesh, an influential political commentator, used a column in the Financial Times this week to argue that any effort to set up a new party should focus on the Brexit issue.

“To avoid dividing into smithereens, the new movement he wants to midwife into existence must reduce its decisions to just the one,” he wrote.

“It must be an anti-Brexit force and, at least for a while, nothing else. People could join without having to air their views on other subjects, much less reconcile them with those of other members.”

Prime minister Theresa May has ordered officials to regroup to salvage the troubled Brexit process. A new team has been launched to lead a diplomatic offensive on Britain’s role in Europe after its departure. For the first time the foreign ministry and Brexit officials will work jointly to enhance dialogue with other governments.

Robin Niblett, director of the London-based foreign policy think tank Chatham House, told Politico magazine that the initiative was sorely needed.

“During the last big push for ‘Global Britain’, prior to Brexit, the government raised the number of British diplomats in India, China, the Gulf, while cutting back human capacity in European capitals,” he said.

“Now the government is having to do some re-engineering to bring back that capability to prepare for the pointy end of the Brexit negotiation.

“But the government has to be clear that we are negotiating with Brussels and that we do have clear ideas on everything from fisheries to farming to air traffic control, and on the whole negotiating position with the EU, right down to granular details.”

It’s time for sensible MPs to admit Brexit is a catastrophe, come together in a new party if need be and reverse it