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“People voted without knowledge of the true terms of Brexit,” the former Labour prime minister said in a speech in London on Friday. “As these terms become clear, it is their right to change their mind. Our mission is to persuade them to do so.”
Blair, who ran the country from 1997 to 2007, explicitly set himself against May’s Conservative government, accusing it of being a “government for Brexit, of Brexit and dominated by Brexit.” As the most formidable election-winner in Labour’s history, his intervention isn’t to be dismissed, but opponents are likely to argue that his campaigning strength is diminished by his support for the Iraq War.
Blair set out his stall in a speech at Bloomberg LP’s European headquarters in London, the same place where, in January 2013, former Prime Minister David Cameron announced his plan to call a referendum on EU membership, unwittingly setting Britain on course to leave. [...]
“Our challenge is to expose relentlessly the actual cost, to show how this decision was based on imperfect knowledge, which will now become informed knowledge,” Blair said. “I don’t know if we can succeed. But I do know we will suffer a rancorous verdict from future generations if we do not try.”
Blair acknowledged there is little room in the public debate for talk of staying inside the EU. He said he wanted to reframe the questions before it was too late.
“The ideologues know that they have to get Brexit first, then tell us this is the only future which works,” he said. “We need to strengthen the hand of the members of Parliament who are with us and let those who are against know they have serious opposition to Brexit at any cost.’
Immigration
He explicitly rejected May’s argument that her opponents are “citizens of nowhere.”
“How hideously, in this debate, is the mantle of patriotism abused,” Blair said. “We do not argue for Britain in Europe because we are citizens of nowhere. We argue for it precisely because we are proud citizens of our country who believe that in the 21st century, we should maintain our partnership with the biggest political union and largest commercial market right on our doorstep.”
Blair agreed with May that support for Brexit is driven by immigration, but argued that leaving the EU won’t deal with the immigration that concerns people.
“For many people, the core of the immigration question - and one which I fully accept is a substantial issue - is immigration from non-European countries,” he said. Nevertheless, the debate has changed in just a few months “to the primacy of one consideration - namely controlling immigration from the EU - without any real discussion as to why, and when Brexit doesn’t affect the immigration people most care about.”
Blair also questioned May’s claim that she wants Britain to be a bridge to the U.S. “How to begin this worthy undertaking?” he asked. “To get out of Europe, thus leaving us with no locus on the terrain where this bridge must be constructed.”
He said the break-up of the U.K. “is now back on the table, but this time with a context much more credible for the independence case.”
And he warned that May’s administration will be unable to focus on anything beyond EU matters. “This government has bandwidth for only one thing: Brexit,” he said. “It is the waking thought, the daily grind, the meditation before sleep and the stuff of its dreams - or nightmares.”