EU reforms can change UK minds on Brexit: Tony Blair
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair has urged European Union leaders to reform the EU so British people "change their mind" about Brexit, saying Britain will lose its influence if it exits the bloc.
Speaking at the European Policy Centre in Brussels on Thursday, Blair argued that if "comprehensive" immigration reforms are offered, Brexit can then be "averted" via another referendum, this time on the final deal reached with the EU.
"Britain without Europe will lose weight and influence. But Europe without Britain will be smaller and diminished. And both of us will be less than we are and much less than we could be together," Blair said.
"And Europe, to retain the ability to protect its interests and values, will need to form a strong bloc with the power collectively to do what no European nation alone will be able to do individually," he said about a time when the "west would no longer dominate".
Blair told EU leaders they should treat Brexit as a "wake-up call" and meaningful reform could change British people's minds about leaving the EU.
"Europe knows it needs reform. Reform in Europe is key to getting Britain to change its mind," he said.
Brexit campaigners dismissed his remarks.
"Former prime ministers who no longer believe in our great nation are engaged in a desperate last ditch attempt to defy the largest democratic mandate ever in the UK," said Richard Tice, co-chair of Leave Means Leave, a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group.
Blair, who was UK's leader from 1997 to 2007, has called for a second referendum on whether Britain was still willing to leave the bloc.
In Britain’s 2016 referendum, 52 percent, or 17.4 million people, voted to leave the EU while 48 percent, or 16 million, voted to stay.
British Prime Minister Theresa May insists Britain will leave the EU in March 2019 and there will be no rerun of the Brexit referendum.
Russia: Poland’s talks on hosting US nuclear weapons ‘dangerous’
‘Europe could die’, President Macron warns at Sorbonne University
European Parliament members criticize EU as 'accomplice’ in Israeli war on Gaza
UK students occupy university campuses in protest over Israeli war on Gaza
VIDEO | Press TV’s news headlines
VIDEO | Crackdown at US campuses rooted in Israeli lobby's repression of academia
VIDEO | Global students for Gaza
Russia rejects US accusation of violating chemical weapons ban in Ukraine
Gaza media office slams Israel for killing dozens of Palestinian journalists
VIDEO | South Africa workers highlight link between Palestinian struggle and achieving full liberation
Protesters try to stop UK police from removing migrants for Rwanda transfer
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
