Sneering Tony Blair sparks outrage for suggesting Brits should have SECOND EU referendum
The ex-PM incurred the wrath of Brexit campaigners after insisting Britain 'should keep its options open'
SNEERING Tony Blair sparked fury yesterday by hinting Britain should be allowed a second Referendum because people are entitled to change their minds.
The former PM, who famously ducked a national vote on the EU when he was in No10, bizarrely insisted the country “should keep its options open”.
The Remain backer said: “Yes the Referendum expressed the will of the people but the will of the people is entitled to change.
“It wasn’t 70-30, or 60-40, it was 52-48.
“Let’s be very blunt about it — some of the claims made for the Brexit case somewhat collapsed even in the week since we’ve been doing this.”
His extraordinary outburst followed a march by 30,000 “Remain” fans at a rally in London, with some chanting: “Fromage not Farage.”
And it comes just days after the ex-PM’s former chief of staff urged political leaders to be “courageous” and re-run the vote.
But Mr Blair was immediately slapped down by Brexit campaigners.
They said they would have been “laughed out of town” if they had called for a second chance after losing.
Labour MP and Out campaigner Gisela Stuart told The Sun: “The establishment just won’t accept the result.
“It’s people who don’t want their lifestyle changed complaining bitterly and sneering at people who, with nothing left to lose, voted to take back control.
“If we had lost and called for a second Referendum people would have laughed at us and called us bad losers.
“Imagine if it was a General Election.
“What’s the Tory majority, 12 seats?
“Does anyone question that?
“Do people trust that outcome?
“Yes they do.”
Others accused Mr Blair of patronising the electorate and claimed it highlighted why voters had become fed up with modern-day politics.
Tory MEP Dan Hannan said: “This is why people dislike and distrust their politicians.
“MPs voted to give us a Referendum and more Brits voted to leave the EU than have voted for anything ever.
“Now Tony Blair and his henchmen are trying to overturn the result.
“They think people were too thick to get it right.
“In fact, people knew exactly what they were voting for.”
He said: “Already Project Fear is falling apart.
“All that talk of emergency Budgets and bombs under the economy has dried up.
“The voters were right and Blair was wrong — again.”
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Mr Blair’s former Labour Government promised a Referendum on ratification of the European Constitution Treaty in 2004, a year ahead of a General Election.
But after France and the Netherlands voted against, ministers got cold feet and ditched the promise.
In 2007, when the European Commission proposed a replacement Lisbon Treaty, Labour said it was a different document and a referendum was not needed.
Mr Blair’s former chief of staff Jonathan Powell said last week the Brexit win did not mean “it is the last word on the subject”.
He added: “One of the advantages of our flexible constitution is that we always have room for manoeuvre, we always find a way of muddling through.”
Mr Powell proposed a second Referendum because voters were not given a true picture of what they were voting for if we left the EU.
He insisted that there were “plenty of precedents”.
Mr Blair yesterday claimed he was not saying “we should have another Referendum”.
But he said: “I am simply saying there is no rule about this.
“We are a sovereign people, we can do what we want to do.
“As a country we should keep all our options open because right now we don’t really know what lies on the other side.”
Fellow Remainer George Osborne accepted the Referendum result last night as he revealed plans to slash the 20 per cent corporation tax rate.
The Chancellor said it was time to “stop moping around or trying to unpick it”.
He said: “What’s done is done.
“The British public has spoken.
“I don’t think we should feel sorry for ourselves as a country.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and make the best of it.”
He unveiled a five-point plan to protect the economy, including lowering corporation tax to under 15 per cent.
He also wants to secure new investment from China, boost banking lending, attract investment into the North and maintain “fiscal credibility”.
Remain campaigner June Sarpong accused Brexiteers of selling Britain an “absolute lie”.
The broadcaster said last night of the next PM: “Their first job must be to say they will not trigger ‘Article 50’.
“The honourable thing is to come out now and say, ‘We lied’.”
Dutch push 'Nexit' poll
By ALLAN HALL
DUTCH politician Geert Wilders says he will use the Brexit vote to push for the Netherlands to have a referendum.
His comments follow last week’s defeat in the Dutch parliament over a vote on leaving.
The leader of the anti-Islam and anti-Europe Freedom Party claimed “Nexit” is about “preventing the Islamization of my country”.
He said: “In the long run the British will profit, just like we’d profit from leaving the EU. We’d finally get our national sovereignty back, as well as our autonomy in matters of monetary and immigration policy just like Switzerland.
“That’s my favourite example, a country in the heart of Europe that even has individual trade agreements with China and Japan. The British too, Germany's third-largest trading partner, will reach an agreement with the EU.”
Mr Wilders also told German magazine Spiegel that Muslim asylum seekers should be taken in by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
He said: “These countries aren’t poor. They’re closer, have the same religion, the same climate, the same culture. That’s how I would have solved this.
“Politicians like David Cameron have lost all sense of reality.”
