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John Major's incendiary speech branding Brexit a 'historic mistake' in full
The former Prime Minister has torn strips off Theresa May in a speech to Chatham House. Here it is in full
...
In Scotland, I believe a hard Brexit will encourage a second referendum on independence. This may seem improbable at the moment, but it would be reckless to ignore the risk.
... Many years of painstaking effort went into the Irish Peace Process which, even apart from Brexit, is at a fragile moment. Uncertainties over border restrictions between Ulster and the Republic are a serious threat – to the UK, to the peace process, and for Ireland, North and South. A special deal will be necessary.
... I can’t ignore what I learned in Government. Nor can I forget the people who voted to leave Europe in the belief it might improve their lives. If events go badly, their expectations will not be met, and whole communities will be worse off. The particular fear I have is that those most likely to be hurt will be those least able to protect themselves.
...
Freedom of speech is absolute in our country. It’s not “arrogant” or “brazen” or “elitist”, or remotely “delusional” to express concern about our future after Brexit . Nor, by doing so, is this group undermining the will of the people: they are the people. Shouting down their legitimate comment is against all our traditions of tolerance. It does nothing to inform and everything to demean – and it is time it stopped.
...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/john-majors-incendiary-speech-branding-9929258
...
In Scotland, I believe a hard Brexit will encourage a second referendum on independence. This may seem improbable at the moment, but it would be reckless to ignore the risk.
... Many years of painstaking effort went into the Irish Peace Process which, even apart from Brexit, is at a fragile moment. Uncertainties over border restrictions between Ulster and the Republic are a serious threat – to the UK, to the peace process, and for Ireland, North and South. A special deal will be necessary.
... I can’t ignore what I learned in Government. Nor can I forget the people who voted to leave Europe in the belief it might improve their lives. If events go badly, their expectations will not be met, and whole communities will be worse off. The particular fear I have is that those most likely to be hurt will be those least able to protect themselves.
...
Freedom of speech is absolute in our country. It’s not “arrogant” or “brazen” or “elitist”, or remotely “delusional” to express concern about our future after Brexit . Nor, by doing so, is this group undermining the will of the people: they are the people. Shouting down their legitimate comment is against all our traditions of tolerance. It does nothing to inform and everything to demean – and it is time it stopped.
...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/john-majors-incendiary-speech-branding-9929258
A sober, rather than incendiary, IMO, look at the uncertainties ahead and the inadequacy of preparations.
Major also echoes what some of us here have said about May's desperate hunger for a hurried trade deal with Trump, pointing out the obvious: that the UK is very much a junior partner in the "special relationship", that ironically, we're of less use to America out of the EU than within it, and that goodwill from the Trump administration is likely to depend on our willingness to fall into line with its agendas, so it's a funny sort of "independence" the Brexiters think they've won.
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