Desperate EU leaders and Remainers accused of plotting to block Brexit

[MikeWB]

Desperate EU leaders and Remainers accused of plotting to block Brexit

REMAIN supporters and EU leaders have been accused of plotting to block Brexit. Leave campaigners reacted with fury after Maltese premier Joseph Muscat said the EU was "not bluffing" about ending British access to the single market.

By DAVID MADDOX

His intervention coincided with comments by Tony Blair who said Brexit could be reversed by a second referendum if the "pain" of leaving could be increased to change voters' minds. There was also anger at another former Prime Minister, Sir John Major, who shared a platform with Mr Blair during the referendum.

He claimed Brexit was "the tyranny of the majority" and suggested the will of British voters should be ignored. In a further attempt to undermine Brexit, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny claimed it would be impossible for Britain to leave the EU in just two years.



Last night Ukip leader Nigel Farage said he "would not be surprised if there was collusion".

And Richard Tice, cochairman of Leave Means Leave, said: "Remainers and EU leaders seem to be collaborating. They are panicking because they know the UK has the upper hand."

Ukip leadership candidate Suzanne Evans said the plot showed why Britain needed to get out now.

"From day one after the referendum result there has been a plot by hardline Remainers and the European Union, who are contemptuous of British democracy, to reverse the result and force Britain to stay in the EU," she said.


Senior Tory MPs also reacted with horror. Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash said: "Sir John Major and Tony Blair must be living on another planet."

Sir John Major and Tony Blair must be living on another planet
Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash
Backbencher Peter Bone said: "These people need to get a grip and remember we live in a democracy."

Referring to the comments by the Maltese Prime Minister, he added: "This is Project Fear from a man I've never even heard of."

Sir John Major's attack on the "tyranny of the majority" came at a private dinner.

He claimed there was "a perfectly credible case" for a second referendum. But former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, who was one of the rebels who opposed Sir John's decision to hand over British sovereignty to Brussels in the Maastricht Treaty, said: "You can't claim democracy when you want it and reject it when you don't. The answer is: we had a vote, that vote now has to be acted on, that's all. The tyranny of the majority? What's the tyranny?"


Leave.EU spokesman Tom Brooke said: "I cannot envisage anything more tyrannical than our out-of-touch political elite delaying and blocking Brexit before eventually watering down the deal to look nothing like the one Britain voted for."

The latest row erupted as Mr Muscat, whose country takes over the EU presidency in January, said the other 27 member states were adamant the UK could not remain in the EU single market unless it continued to accept free movement of labour.

"All of us have been pretty clear in our approach that we want a fair deal for the UK but that can't translate itself into a superior deal," he said.

"I know there is absolutely no bluffing from the European side, at least in the council meetings I have attended, saying 'We will start in this position and then we will soften up'. No, this is really and truly our position."

Meanwhile Mr Kenny expressed his belief that a transitional deal will take "longer than expected", hinting at an expectation among EU leaders that Brexit talks will drag on past 2019. He said: "I think there's an inevitability about this to be honest with you. In 50 years nobody has left the EU. This is the first time a country has said, under the treaties, 'we wish to leave'."

The threats were last night dismissed by the Government.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "This is a negotiation that will take place next year and the Government will set out its negotiating strategy in the fullness of time.

"The aim of that negotiation is to get the best possible deal for Britain, for British companies to access and work with and within the single market and for European businesses to have the same access here."

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/736699/EU-leaders-Remainers-block-Brexit-Europe-UK