Ex-PM Gordon Brown urges people to ‘rise up’

Former leader blasts Boris Johnson and no-deal Brexit

Former prime minister Gordon Brown last night told people to “rise-up” against no-deal Brexit and Boris Johnson’s “xenophobic” Conservative government.

Speaking at a No To No-Deal rally in Glasgow, the recent Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP said the divisions brought about by Brexit and the threat of further separation by the SNP meant important politics which could bring change to people’s lives was being forgotten.

Mr Brown addressed the event organised by anti-racism group Hope Not Hate at Gorbals Parish Church in Glasgow. He said: “I believe we can stop Brexit. We have to win this fight, for the sake of the children in this country.

“(Boris Johnson) is a man who – when he faces a difficult challenge in parliament – shuts it down. When he faces a difficult challenge with the law, he tries to break it. We the people have to stop him breaking the law.

“Any MPs should look at no-deal and have the courage to ask themselves ‘will medicine supplies be available?’ ‘will food be available?’ ‘will components for our factories be available?’

“If they can’t then they have a duty, in all conscience, to say ‘I cannot go ahead with no-deal’.

“I believe that over the next few weeks we need petitions, we need the public rising up, phoning radio stations, we need all the pressure put on this Conservative government so they cannot get away with a no-deal Brexit.”

Mr Brown, who served as prime minister from 2007-10, added that the only way to avoid a no-deal Brexit and further job losses was to not vote for the SNP at the next election.

“The SNP tell us, rightly, that the consequences for Scotland of a no-deal Brexit are very severe, and they pointed to figures which have been produced by the Fraser of Allander Institute in Glasgow that say – because of our trade with Europe – 100,000 jobs will be at risk, but they have got to apply their logic to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom as well.”

Mr Brown was joined at the debate by Glasgow MSP Anas Sarwar, who said: “The language of ‘us versus them’, ‘surrendering to the EU’, or ‘bowing to masters in London’, needs to stop.

“We must relearn the ability to disagree well.”

A No 10 source said: “Gordon Brown’s claims that the government is acting undemocratically by promising to deliver Brexit on time is the peak of Labour’s dishonesty.

“Our values are centred around democracy and he may have forgotten this means delivering on the will of the people.”

Picture: Getty. Former prime minister Gordon Brown speaks at a No To No-Deal rally in Glasgow last night.