Brexiteer backlash at ‘special place in hell’ jibe
THERE WILL be “a special place in hell” for those who promoted Brexit without a plan for how to deliver it, European Council president Donald Tusk has said.
Mr Tusk’s comments came as Theresa May held meetings with Ireland’s politicians in a last-ditch bid to win backing for her Brexit deal before heading to Brussels.
The EU chief was speaking alongside Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar following talks about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, which Mr Tusk branded a “fiasco”.
He also insisted that the Withdrawal Agreement reached with Theresa May last year would not be reopened to remove the proposed backstop arrangement for the Irish border, despite the Prime Minister’s appeals for changes to the deal.
Mr Tusk’s outburst prompted a furious backlash, with Brexiteers lining up to condemn his words.
Former Ukip leader and Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage lashed out on Twitter, saying: “After Brexit we will be free of unelected, arrogant bullies like you and run our own country. Sounds more like heaven to me.”
Tory backbencher Peter Bone, said: “I don’t recall any president insulting members of this House, members of the Government and the British people in such a way.”
And Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom called on Mr Tusk to apologise.
“I think that what he has said is pretty unacceptable and pretty disgraceful,” she told the BBC.
“I’m sure that when he reflects on it he may well wish he hadn’t done it.”
There was also anger from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, who have so far opposed Mrs May’s Brexit deal saying it would divide the region from the rest of the UK.
The party’s Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson branded the Council President a “devilish, trident-wielding, euro maniac,” who held Leave voters in “contempt”.
DUP leader Arlene Foster accused Mr Tusk of being “deliberately provocative” and “disrespectful”. She said: “Clearly the pressure is beginning to mount in Brussels.”
However, Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald backed Mr Tusk’s use of such language. TUSK TIRADE:
“You are not going to convince me that anything Donald Tusk says could further harden the position of the Boris Johnsons or the Rees-Moggs of this world,” she said.
“They are people who have acted with absolute contempt for this country, utter disregard for the experiences of Irish people north and south, with utter disregard for the peace process that has been collectively built over decades.”
Ahead of the Prime Minister’s crunch Brussels visit, Mr Tusk said EU leaders were looking for “a realistic suggestion on how to end the impasse in which the process of the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU has found itself following the latest votes in the House of Commons.”
He said the Irish border issue and the need to preserve the peace process remained the EU’s “top priority”. And he added: “We will not gamble with peace or put a sell-by date on reconciliation. This is why we insist on the backstop.”
In a direct message to Mrs May, Mr Tusk said: “Give us a deliverable guarantee for peace in Northern Ireland and the UK will leave the EU as a trusted friend.
“I hope that the UK Government will present ideas that will both respect this point of view and at the same time command a stable and clear majority in the House of Commons. I strongly believe that a common solution is possible and I will do everything in my power to find it.”
But he concluded: “By the way, I have been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan to carry it (out) safely.”
That special place in hell... for those who promoted Brexit. EU Council President Donald Tusk
From: Veronica Hardstaff, Northfield Court, Sheffield.
EVERY day there are reports of major companies planning to reduce jobs or relocate completely into the European Single Market in the event of Brexit, with or without a deal. Smaller businesses in those communities such as component suppliers, cafes, food shops, etc, will also be hard hit when earning power is removed by the loss of several hundred well paid jobs. I fear for those communities and the greater deprivation which will ensue.
We know only too well in South Yorkshire the effect of the loss of jobs in steel, mining and engineering in the 1980s.
It was money from the EU Regional and Social Funds which helped the area to recover. No such help will be forthcoming from the EU if we pull out and cause job losses by our own actions.
Money saved from no longer paying into EU funds is highly unlikely to be used by our present Government to help poorer areas.
Indeed they have actively taken money away for the last eight years and favoured tax cuts to the wealthy.
From: Keith Punshon, Willow Bridge Lane, Dalton, Thirsk.
MINISTERS who asked to be trusted over Nissan now threaten Brexit-voting Sunderland with a withdrawal of support for the community. After Theresa May allegedly offered sweeteners to Labour MPs to get them to vote for her deal through investment in their struggling communities, now we have Remainers doing the opposite and threatening Leavers.
Nissan was promised £60m support for training and skills investment in Sunderland, and now Nissan has withdrawn their commitment to build new models there, we see a threat that the money will stop.
I would have thought that maintaining skills and investing in a community with more than its fair share of problems would be a good investment. It would also be good for Sunderland and other Leave-voting areas if they were permitted to make their own trade deals.
From: David Craggs, Shaftongate, Goldthorpe.
ONE word that has been thrown out ad nauseam by Brexiteers at Remainers is ‘scaremongering’. So are the problems already being created by the Irish border, the recent announcement by Nissan at Sunderland, and the stockpiling of food, which we are told is already taking place, examples of this supposedly nonexistent scaremongering?