Blair strengthens call for second Brexit vote

The former MP for Sedgefield visited a school which was transformed during his premiership, and called for Theresa May’s deal to be put to the people in a simple vote.

“There are so many challenges in the North-East,” he said, referring to domestic issues like education, the NHS, law and order. “Brexit doesn’t deal with any of them.”

He said that Brexit would damage the region’s economy. “It’s not just the destructive impact of it, it’s the distractive impact – we will be concentrating on it and nothing else,” he said.

He said Mrs May’s Chequers deal was an unhappy compromise because, whereas Brexit was about taking back control, Chequers meant remaining tied to EU rules and losing what say Britain has in the creation of those rules.

“Immigration was the biggest single issue in the referendum,” he told The Northern Echo. “People felt the freedom of movement principle was applied too widely.

“But immigration over the last two years has changed the politics of Europe. It’s a shame that the very issue Britain raised is the one Europe is wanting to deal with. We could all deal with it together – that is the most sensible thing because otherwise we are going to leave on issues Europe is prepared to deal with and there is no doubt that leaving is going to do us economic damage.”

When asked by pupils at Sedgefield Community College of his greatest achievements, he mentioned the Irish peace deal, but he also said he feared for it because Brexit was endangering the open border which is such a crucial part of it.

So he believes that when Mrs May has concluded her best deal, it should go back to the people with a straightforward question: accept the deal or stay in the EU.

“We all know more about this than we did two years ago,” he said. “Now we see what it really means, do we want to continue?”

This, though, could be be at odds with the voters of the North-East where up to 68 per cent voted to leave. “This has been about Conservative Party politics,” he said. “We’ve created this issue ourselves, and Brexit in this tragic way has become the vehicle in which to express every form of dissatisfaction with the way the country is run, but it really isn’t the right vehicle to do that.”

He said his successor as Sedgefield MP, Phil Wilson, was right to argue for a second referendum even though 60 per cent of his constituents voted to leave. “He’s telling them what he thinks is right – he can’t go along with a policy he doesn’t believe in,” he said.

“Labour should be 20 points ahead in the polls and it isn’t because on the biggest issue of the day, it has been ambiguous.”

Mr Blair was back in Sedgefield for fund-raising events, and visited the college because it was rebuilt under his Government's Building Schools for the Future fund – the programme he told the students was another of his favourite achievements. His former agent, John Burton, had been a PE teacher at the old school where one of his pupils had been a young Mr Wilson.

“It shows the value of investment,” said Mr Blair. “The change is amazing.” The college is now among the top 50 performers in the country.

He fielded questions from the pupils – including one about Brexit – and told them that even prime ministers are, at heart, ordinary people who suffer from a lack of self-confidence and anxieties.

He told them he did hanker after being PM again – but only when he had forgotten what it was like being PM.

He disagreed with a student that lowering the voting age to 16 would encourage greater participation among young people in politics, and he told them that he hadn’t expected to become Labour leader because he thought his loud calls for party reform had ruled him out.

“But then I found what I thought would count against me, counted in my favour,” he concluded.

“If you really believe in something, if you feel passionately about it, go and do it. Who knows how it will work out but at least you will feel better about yourself.”