Jeremy Corbyn is alienating both sides of Brexit debate and should start backing second referendum, Tony Blair says
The former PM suggested Labour's boss is a 'closet Eurosceptic' who only pretends to oppose Brexit
JEREMY Corbyn is alienating both sides of the Brexit debate with his muddled EU strategy, Tony Blair claimed today.
The ex-PM claimed the current Labour boss is a “closet Eurosceptic” who is refusing to take a strong stance on Brexit.
And ultra-Europhile Mr Blair said Mr Corbyn should throw his weight behind a second EU referendum.
He claimed Labour’s vow to leave the single market but stay in the customs union would create “the worst of both worlds”.
Mr Blair added: “If the reason for being against the single market is we don’t want to be merely rule takers, then the customs union solution has the same objections.”
He said Labour’s support for a customs union is an “unacceptable compromise” for Leave voters.
But at the same time pro-EU voters were also “losing faith in Labour as a route to avoid Brexit”, Mr Blair insisted.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, he said: “That ambiguity probably did serve Labour well at the last election… I don’t think it works any more today.
“We’re in a position now of not pleasing the Remainers or the Leavers.”
Mr Blair concluded: “I think the sensible thing for the Labour party to do is to say, if we want a jobs-first Brexit the sensible thing to do is to stay close to Europe’s economic area.
“If people then say, ‘What’s the point of leaving?’, you say the final decision should be taken by the British people on whether to proceed on this basis.”
In the same interview, the former PM insisted he had no idea that a Libyan dissident had been sent from Britain to his home country when he was in power.
Mr Blair said he acknowledged Theresa May’s decision to make a formal apology to Abdul Hakim Belhaj and his wife Fatima Boudchar.
He added: “I have gone along with what the Government’s done, which is issue the apology, I didn’t actually know myself about this case until after I left office.”
The couple were sent to a prison run by the forces of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi.
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