In April 2017, he wrote an article for the website “OpenDecomcracyUK” and made the following points.
As an introduction, he says:
- The Brexit project has gone sour. It has turned Britain into a laughing stock. It is certain to make us poorer and to lead to lower incomes and lost jobs. We Brexiteers would be wise to acknowledge all this. Future generations will look back at what we did and damn us.
- There is zero chance of a sensible Brexit. It’s a decision which will not just impact the lives of our children. But also our children’s children.
- A clumsily executed Brexit will hit us in terms of lower incomes, lost jobs and industries, worse public services and restricted opportunities.
- I’ve heard the argument that people want to get it over with and ‘just leave’. That’s reckless, stupid and could inflict incalculable damage. Matters can get an awful lot worse…..I write this as someone who voted for Brexit.
On the economy, he says:
- The economic arguments for Brexit have been destroyed.
- Nissan is abandoning plans [for the UK]…Sony is moving its HQ…..Panasonic did it last year… Dyson is moving his HQ to Singapore. The trickle of companies announcing plans to leave Britain has turned into a flood. …. Britain’s departure from the EU will be as great a disaster for our country as the over-mighty unions were in the 1960s and 1970s.
- The biggest immediate losers will be the working-class people in the NE who are widely said to support Brexit.
- I accept that the EU is a dysfunctional body……but we are much better off working inside the EU for reform (where we are greatly respected) and not as a hostile neighbour.
- It is folly to rely on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which is fundamental to the Brexiteer economic model. The WTO, under attack from the USA and China, is losing its ability to ensure a free market for goods and services.
- No country that is relatively small [compared to the USA, China and EU] can rely on the WTO alone. We would be adrift and at [their] mercy as we try to go it alone. Liam Fox’s department will have almost no replacement trade deals ready for Brexit.
- The EU has just signed a huge free-trade deal with Japan. If we leave the EU, ….does anyone seriously think we could get something better? We will be weaker and more isolated. No business organisation wants Brexit. The CBI and TUC, in a highly unusual show of unity, have written a joint letter expressing deep concern.
On the union of the UK, he says:
- A second reason to change my mind is the threat to the UK, to our own union. I underestimated the importance of the Good Friday Agreement … the separatists within our own nation would push us apart [in Northern Ireland] as the Scottish nationalists are also doing. ….. The EU is part of the glue which holds us together in the United Kingdom.
On integrity, he says:
- My third unhappiness concerns the integrity of some leading Brexiteers. We are learning more and more about the deceit and illegal tactics which accompanied the Leave campaign.
- Britain’s national watchdog has fined Leave.EU for breaking electoral marketing laws. The National Crime Agency is still investigating suspicions of criminal offences. Alleged links to Russian money are even more worrying.
On Brexiteers, he says:
- The fourth problem is the Brexiteers themselves. Phrases [used by Brexiteers] such as ‘vassal state’….do not remotely characterise our relationship with Europe. The affection …. for Donald Trump is ominous.
- It is not too late to think again. It is clear that we can reverse Article 50. It would quite reasonably be portrayed as a betrayal of the 17.4 million who voted leave….I would answer as follows:
- The Brexiteers made claims about leaving the EU that have turned out to be untrue. They said it would be quick and easy. They said trade deals would be available …..that the trade deal with the EU would be one of the easiest in human history.
- They made false claims about British finances. They used illegal methods and their funding was obscure.
- If the referendum had been a general election, the Brexiteers would have been chucked out of office.
In conclusion, he says:
- I don’t believe [a second referendum] would be undemocratic. So many facts have changed that it makes senses to re-examine the most important decision in decades.
- Many MPs still marching under the Brexit banner…..have changed their minds.
- But where is [my] declaration of love for the EU? I have none. Only a deep, gnawing worry that we are making a significant mistake, a worry that is growing by the hour.
- Suspending Brexit will be greatly preferable to the alternative.