LEAVE VOTERS WILL TURN OVER ‘LIES’, SAYS CLEGG

LEAVE voters could turn against Brexit when it becomes clear they have been “lied” to, according to former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

He said Brexit could still be stopped, by offering the public a second referendum when it becomes clear what sort of deal Prime Minister Theresa May has negotiated with the EU.

Mr Clegg, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats and now the party’s Brexit spokesman, said some of those who voted to leave would be angry when it became clear quitting the EU wasn’t going mean an end to immigration or provide huge sums of money for the health service.

He also insisted it was wrong that older voters had robbed young people of “their right to travel and study and work across Europe”.

He said: “You could, and I’m only saying this tongue in cheek, you could make a case that when a country takes a massive decision by way of a referendum about its future, the votes of those who have that future should be weighted more heavily than those who, bluntly, aren’t going to be around for very long. “Particularly when the discrepancy is so great. It wasn’t as if young people stayed at home. It was a 62% turnout for 18 to 24-year-olds. And, of those, 70% [voted to stay in]. That was a massive, massive vote.” Mr Clegg suggested younger people, aged 16 and 17, should have a vote in any second referendum. Under-18s were barred from voting in last year’s referendum. He said he was “angry” at politicians such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, leading Conservative leave campaigners, and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage. “I have a huge problem with the leaders who wilfully lied to voters, knowing that they would not be held to account,” said Mr Clegg. He said: “Johnson, Gove, Farage and all these people knew that they could make stuff up and the truth would never catch up with them because they’re not going to give the British people another chance to look at this.

“That angers me, but I also I think a lot of people will feel ‘hang on, I was sold this under a false prospectus’.”

Mr Clegg said: “The gap between what people have been led to believe is going to happen and what will actually be delivered is so great.

“Not just that great lie emblazoned on the bus. But cutting VAT. Immigration would evaporate as a problem. A cornucopia of new trade deals would be signed, even before we left the European Union. All would be well, we’d still be able to work effectively against criminals on a cross-border basis.

“These things, some or all of them, are not going to be remotely delivered upon.

“That and a sense that the government is completely and utterly obsessed by Brexit, while the care homes and the schools and hospitals in local communities are suffering ... I think that could actually have an effect on public opinion.”