Sir John Major makes a closer trading relationship with the EU (Image: Getty)
The benefits of Brexit are as “elusive as Lord Lucan”, former Prime Minister Sir John Major has declared in a speech in which he called for Britain to rejoin the Customs Union and the Single Market. Sir John also delivered a blazing attack on President Trump and condemned cuts to foreign aid.
The ex-Tory leader – who fought fierce battles with eurosceptics in his party when in power – turned his guns on Brexiteers as he delivered a self-styled "reality check".
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He said: “The only Brexit ‘freedom’ I’ve yet seen is the freedom to be poorer.” Sir John claimed leaving the EU was a “gift to countries that wish us ill, and a shock to those that wish us well”.
Warning that his own party is in danger, he said: “It has scarred the body politic, and may yet be written on the tomb of the Conservative Party.”
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He added: “I continue to search for the ‘benefits of Brexit’ but they are as elusive as Lord Lucan. Some politicians talk of them – but are unable to tell us what they are, or where they may be found.”
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Sir John praised Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for “slowly and painfully beginning to work his way back into a better trading relationship with the EU”.
But he said new trade deals are “nowhere close to compensating for the loss of European trade” and claimed Brexit is “the first ever trade deal to erect new trade barriers rather than eliminate them”.
Arguing Britain faces a choice between changing and accepting a lower standard of living, he said the country can “recover lost trade by moving towards re-entering the Customs Union and the Single Market”.
On rejoining the EU, he said: “This is politically unrealistic at present, and will be a decision for a later generation.”
Sir John delivered the Sir Edward Heath Annual Lecture at Salisbury Cathedral.
'This is not America as I have known her. This is not democracy as I understand it.'
Sir John Major gave a scathing assessment of President Trump (Image: Getty)
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He used the occasion to blast President Trump for his leadership during the Ukraine crisis.
Sir John said: “He demanded concessions from Ukraine – the attacked, and then proposed a settlement to aid Russia – the attacker.
“Ukraine has been threatened, bullied, and had military and intelligence withdrawn as if she were the aggressor. It was as though America had her arms around Putin’s shoulders, and her hands at Zelensky’s throat.
“This turns reason on its head. Such a posture may well encourage would-be aggressors everywhere, and bring fear to potential victims.”
Sir John warned that “government by threat” will “create resentment and chaos”.
He said: “This is not America as I have known her. This is not democracy as I understand it.”
Warning of the consequences of the President’s actions, he said: “[If] President Trump threatens to seize Canada, why should not Putin seize Ukraine? Or Xi take over Taiwan?”
In what will be seen as a jab at the rise of Reform UK, he said: “Moderate Parties of Left and Right are in crisis in France, where the extreme Right may win the next parliamentary and presidential elections. The UK and Germany, too, face an insurgency from the intolerant Right.”
And he attacked the “callous” UK Government for cutting the foreign aid budget to spend more on defence.
He said: “We – among others – are now to spend more on defence, and to finance that by cutting aid to the world’s most wretched and helpless. Many people, with voices that will never be heard, will suffer and die because countries have made this change in budgetary priorities.
“It is short-sighted and – to my mind – callous. And the fallout, over time, will be greater migrant demand to live in the richer countries.”
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Sir John also raised concerns about Israel’s approach to tackling Hamas in Gaza.
He said: “How will the dispossessed, the injured, the bereaved see Israel when the present fighting is done? Will not today’s death and destruction boost recruitment for tomorrow’s terror?
“I do not believe it is possible to totally eliminate Hamas: it is an ‘idea’ – a ‘doctrine’ – as well as a terror group. But every Palestinian – man, woman and child – is not a Hamas terrorist.”
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