Major: Leaving EU is an historic mistake
SIR JOHN MAJOR has made an extraordinary attack on Theresa May’s Government over Brexit and warned that leaving the EU could mean cutting the NHS and welfare state.
In his first intervention since the referendum, the former prime minister said Brexit was an “historic mistake” and warned Mrs May that she must not create “unreal and over-optimistic” expectations about leaving the EU.
He also criticised Donald Trump, describing the US president as “less predictable, less reliable and less attuned to our free market and socially liberal instincts than any of his predecessors”.
Sir John’s warning followed that of Tony Blair – alongside whom he campaigned during the EU referendum – who urged voters to “rise up” against Brexit and said that voters have the “right to change their minds”.
Sir John’s speech at Chatham House in London last night infuriated Eurosceptic MPs, who accused him of making “bitter, angry” remarks and of trying to refight the referendum. Ministers Editorial Comment: Page 19
warned that it could embolden peers trying to frustrate Brexit. A Downing Street source said: “The Government is determined to make a success of our departure from the European Union and to move beyond the language of Leave and Remain to unite our country.”
In a direct message to Mrs May, Sir John said that there would be a “price to be paid” if Britain decided to become a low-tax economy. He said: “It has worrying implications for public services such as the NHS – and for the vulnerable who, I’m delighted to say, the Government has pledged to help.
“So there is a choice to be made, a price to be paid; we cannot move to a radical enterprise economy without moving away from a welfare state.”
He said that Brexit-supporting MPs who assumed that Europe would “concede all we wish for” were “extraordinarily naive”. Sir John continued: “The referendum was one of the most divisive votes in British history. I have watched with growing concern as the British people have been led to expect a future that seems to be unreal and optimistic. Obstacles are brushed aside as of no consequence, whilst opportunities are inflated beyond any reasonable expectation of delivery.”
In contrast to Mr Blair, however, Sir John suggested that a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU is a “long way away” and added: “We cannot turn back the clock”.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Eurosceptic former Cabinet minister, said: “It’s a rather bitter, angry speech that doesn’t tell you much about the referendum or the Prime Minister … It has nothing to do with where we’re going, it’s a re-fighting of all the referendum.”
Asked if he believed Mrs May would have to “face down her own b-------”, as he once did over Maastricht, Sir John said: “You might say that, I couldn’t possibly comment.”