Cable: Brexit vote ‘nostalgia for white Britain’

SIR VINCE CABLE, the Liberal Democrat leader, has said the Brexit vote was “driven by nostalgia” for a world where “faces were white”.

In a speech to his party’s spring conference in Southport, Sir Vince said the “toxic” fallout of the referendum was fuelling the rise of the populist Right in Britain.

Saying that 70 per cent of over-65s had voted for Brexit, Sir Vince said: “Too many were driven by nostalgia for a world where passports were blue, faces were white and the map was coloured imperial pink”.

He went on: “I would go so far as to say Britain is now mired in a protracted, non-violent civil war. Allied to the poisonous rhetoric about ‘traitors’ and ‘saboteurs’, and what Theresa May calls ‘citizens of nowhere’, we have a toxic brew which fuels the populist Right … It was never a good idea to leave the EU. To leave it now borders on extreme recklessness.”

Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, said Sir Vince’s comments were “so wrong and disrespectful”, adding: “Should be trying to bring country together, not seeking to tear it apart.”

Brandon Lewis, Conservative party chairman, said the Lib Dem leader’s words were “unbelievable, rude, offensive to many”.