Tory MP under fire for saying UK will be an ‘old people’s home’

A SENIOR Remain-backing Tory MP was accused of ‘appalling’ negativity last night after saying that leaving the EU could turn the UK into an ‘isolated old people’s home’.

George Freeman said Brexit could prove the moment ‘we become a second or third-tier nation’. The MP – the head of Theresa May’s policy forum – said it was a ‘very real prospect’ which ‘chills me to the bone’.

Remainers seized upon his comments as a warning of what could go wrong as a result of the decision to leave the EU.

Mr Freeman, who backed Remain in last year’s referendum, said the gloomy future was just one of a range of possible outcomes, with other scenarios including an ‘entrepreneurship revolution’ being unleashed across the UK.

The chairman of the Conservative Policy Forum said that in a bad scenario, Brexit could be ‘the moment we finally failed as a great nation’. Sketching out how this could develop, he said: ‘People got up and left. We pulled out of Europe and became isolated, small, insular, old, ageing economy. We became an old people’s home that couldn’t pay for itself. That, I see as a very real prospect.’

Richard Tice, of the campaign group Leave Means Leave, said: ‘This is the most appalling, negative advice I have heard from anyone.’

But the Open Britain campaign, which wants to stay in the single market and the customs union, said Mr Freeman’s comments illustrated the dangers of Brexit. Mrs May’s official spokesman said: ‘The PM has said clearly that she believes Brexit provides the opportunity to create a safer and more prosperous country.’