Tony Blair on Brexit: 'Government should delay Article 50 as will of the people could change'

Delay leaving the EU: Tony Blair has said the "will of the people" could change
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Hannah Al-Othman4 July 2016
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Tony Blair has said Britain should keep its "options open" over leaving the European Union because the "will of the people" could change.

The former prime minister has said the Government should delay triggering Article 50, the two-year process for formally quitting the bloc, "for as long as it takes to get an idea of how the other side looks".

A downturn in economic fortunes could lead to a change in attitudes about the country's future outside the EU, he suggested.

Mr Blair told Murnaghan on Sky News: "One of the reasons why we should keep our options open is that yes, the referendum expressed the will of the people, but the will of the people is entitled to change.

"Right now, over the next two months, even while this psycho drama within the Conservative party is going on, we've got to have the national interest protected by trying to set the scene for any negotiation."

He added: "I don't think you can override the settled will of the people but it's 52 to 48. Supposing some weeks or months down the line, as it becomes clear what we are moving to, as that becomes clear, if it becomes clear these terms are bad for us, if people start to worry about their jobs, we should just keep our options open.

"I'm not saying we should have another referendum, I'm not saying you can revisit this. I'm simply saying there's no rule about this - we're a sovereign people we can do what we want to do."

Tory leadership frontrunner Theresa May, meanwhile, has suggested there could be further rises in the number of EU citizens moving to the UK before Brexit is implemented.

The Home Secretary told ITV's Peston on Sunday: "We know, for example, if we're looking ahead over the coming months and years once we get the issue of the EU negotiation sorted, the right deal for Britain, we may very well see in the run-up to that, people wanting to come here to the UK before that exit happens, so there are factors you can't always predict what the timing and numbers of those will be."

EU leaders have warned they will not compromise on freedom of movement if the country wants continued access to the single market.

Mr Blair said concerns about immigration are "real" but insisted the answer was not to quit the EU.

He told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "One of the things we should be looking at in these next months are other ways of dealing with that that don't mean we have literally to eject ourselves from the entirety of the European Union for that.

"Even if you apply an Australian points system to European migration you are still going to get European migrants."

Mrs May refused to set a date on when to bring net immigration levels down to tens of thousands, in line with Tory Party targets.

"There's still a job to be done from people outside the EU," she said.

"There's also, of course, the future negotiation in relation to free movement for people coming from inside the EU. I'm very clear the Brexit vote gave us a very clear message from people that we couldn't allow free movement to continue as it had hitherto.

"We need to bring control into movement of people coming into the UK from the EU. So we've got to move ahead looking across immigration dealing with both those sides of types of immigration.

"But still I believe we should have that goal of bringing immigration down to sustainable levels."

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Law firm Mishcon de Reya is taking legal steps to ensure Article 50 is not triggered without an Act of Parliament.

Acting on behalf of an anonymous group of clients, lawyers have been in correspondence with government counterparts to seek assurance over the process and plan to pursue it through the courts if they are not satisfied.

Kasra Nouroozi, a Mishcon de Reya partner, said: "We must ensure that the Government follows the correct process to have legal certainty and protect the UK Constitution and the sovereignty of Parliament in these unprecedented circumstances.

"The result of the Referendum is not in doubt, but we need a process that follows UK law to enact it.

"The outcome of the Referendum itself is not legally binding and for the current or future prime minister to invoke Article 50 without the approval of Parliament is unlawful.

"We must make sure this is done properly for the benefit of all UK citizens. Article 50 simply cannot be invoked without a full debate and vote in Parliament.

"Everyone in Britain needs the Government to apply the correct constitutional process and allow Parliament to fulfil its democratic duty which is to take into account the results of the Referendum along with other factors and make the ultimate decision."

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