Daily Times

LONDON: Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair said on Friday there was nothing preventing a second Brexit referendum and warned that the break-up would be “very, very tough” as European leaders were in an unforgiving mood.

He called on fellow “Remain” supporters to “mobilise and to organise” against proponents of Brexit, writing in The New European newspaper that “we’re the insurgents now”. “There is absolutely no reason why we should close off any options,” he later told BBC radio.

“We are entitled to carry on scrutinising, and, yes, if necessary, to change our minds. This is not about an elite overruling the people. “If it becomes clear that this is either a deal that doesn’t make it worth our while leaving; or, alternatively, a deal that is going to be so serious in its implications that people decide they don’t want to go, there’s got to be some way, either through parliament, or through an election; possibly through another referendum,” he added.

Blair, who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007, called Brexit as “catastrophe”, and revealed that he had recently held talks with French President Francois Hollande that had highlighted the challenges Britain faces in upcoming negotiations to set the terms of the break-up.