I’m working to block Brexit, admits Blair
TONY Blair yesterday confirmed that he is working to block Brexit and declared: ‘It’s not done until it’s done.’
The Labour former prime minister said the June 2016 European Union referendum result was ‘reversible’ if voters changed their minds.
He also claimed the row over the Irish border was impossible to resolve – raising doubts about the prospect of Theresa May striking a free trade deal with the EU.
Asked if he was working to reverse Brexit, he replied: ‘Yes, exactly so. It’s reversible. It’s not done until it’s done.’
Mr Blair has established a think-tank to devise policies to erode the coalition of interests that came together to vote to leave the EU. But he acknowledged that most Brexit supporters would never change their minds.
He told the BBC: ‘There are some people who believe that membership of the European Union is inconsistent with national sovereignty. I don’t agree, but they hold that view very, very strongly. Nothing is going to persuade them. Then there are other people who believe the reason for being anti-Europe is that it’s too sclerotic and bureaucratic.
‘And these are in many ways the people driving this Brexit thing intellectually. They are not going to be persuaded.’
But Mr Blair said there was ‘a significant group’ with concerns about issues such as austerity and housing, who he said could be persuaded to change their minds.
‘When the facts change, people are entitled to change their mind,’ he said.
‘When the country sees the choice of this new relationship, it will realise that it’s either going to be something that does profound damage to the country, or alternatively, having left the European Union, left the single market, we will try by some means to recreate the benefit of that in some new relationship. In which case I think many people will think, “What’s the point?”’