Tony Blair (pictured in Davos in Switzerland today) said the Tory government will end up fudging the deal and ‘leaving’ the Brussels club ‘without really leaving’.
The British people will not accept Theresa May’s ‘hotch potch’ Brexit deal and could stay in the EU, Tony Blair today said.
The arch-Remainer said the Tory Government will end up fudging the deal and ‘leaving’ the Brussels club ‘without really leaving’.
The ex Labour Prime Minister said the historic referendum could be reversed and Britain could stay in the EU if this happened.
He made the warning as he lectured members of the global and corporate elite at the world summit in Davos in the Swiss Alps.
Mr Blair said: ‘Will the public really shift in its position once it sees the deal the Government is bringing forward? We don’t know.
‘But if the deal is the one I suspect, which will be a hotch-potch where the Government tries to stay close to Europe and ‘leave without leaving’, I think it is going to be very difficult to persuade the British people that that is better than what we have now.’
Repeating his threat that Brexit may not happen, he said public opinion may change and a second referendum held when voters are confronted with the reality that the deal they favour is ‘impossible’.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said: ‘There is nothing that would make me change my mind in thinking that this is a regressive move for the country.
‘But I think the country would proceed with Brexit if the Government succeeded in bringing forward a deal that retained the benefits of our single market membership without the obligations.
‘It is just that I think that is an impossible thing to negotiate.’
He also said he expects Labour to U-turn on their policy and say they want to stay in the EU single market.
And he suggested that, from that point, it would only be ‘a very short distance’ to opposing Brexit altogether.
Tony Blair said Theresa May (pictured in Parliament today) could end up negotiating a Brexit deal when said the historic referendum could be reversed and Britain could stay in the EU if this happened.
Mr Blair said he took ‘on face value’ Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s insistence that he is pro-Europe.
He added: ‘The Labour Party feels – for reasons I understand – that it’s got to say “We are still in favour of Brexit”.
‘But when you see how the Labour Party is moving, it is moving very much towards a ‘let’s keep the single market’ position.
‘It nuances that in what it says, but I think in the end there is a majority within the Labour Party for keeping a close relationship with Europe.
‘I think the moment you get to that position, it’s a very short distance to the next position, which is to say ‘let’s not give up our seat at the decision-making table but still be the passive recipient of European rules’.’
Mr Blair is a leading Remainer and has repeatedly called for Brexit to be reversed and Britain to stay in the bloc.
His comments were made at the glitzy global summit, where millionaire businessmen rub shoulder with politicians and policy makers from around the world.