Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage should “hang their heads in shame” for the damage they caused to Britain by leading the campaign that saw it leave the EU, Michael Heseltine has claimed.
The former Conservative deputy prime minister said that 10 years on from the EU referendum the “bankruptcy” of their claims that Brexit would bring huge benefits to the UK had been exposed and led voters to believe that it should be reversed.
The British public had been “lied” to in a “heinous crime”, Lord Heseltine, who served under John Major and Margaret Thatcher’s governments, writes for The Independent after it launched its Europe – The Way Back campaign.
Brexit was a “self imposed disaster” and it is time for Britain to “reclaim our traditional role as a major European nation” and rejoin the EU.
His intervention comes after a stark new poll reveals that nearly half of the British public want a second Brexit referendum, including a fifth of voters from Mr Farage’s party Reform UK.
The study by Ipsos, King’s College London and UK in a Changing Europe found much of the public was open to rapprochement with the EU, with almost half backing a closer relationship and 60 per cent wanting more co-operation on defence.
The number of people who say Brexit is going worse than they had predicted has almost doubled in the past five years, from 27 per cent in 2021 to 48 per cent today – more than those saying it was going as well as or better than expected.
Passionate pro European Lord Heseltine said it was telling that few of those who led the Brexit campaign now claim it has been a success.
“Where are the paeons of praise to Brexit from Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage, Dominic Cummings and their accomplices for the land of milk and honey they told us it would deliver?’ he writes.
“Never have so few done so much damage to so many with so little ability to execute what they lied about.
“They don’t normally hold back from giving their opinions. The reason is obvious I would suggest: their scandalously false prospectus has turned to dust and ashes.‘They are the guilty men and should hang their heads in shame.”
Lord Heseltine accuses prominent Brexiteers such as Mr Johnson and Mr Farage of “walking away from their heinous political crime”. Instead they offered “feeble excuses as to why all their bold promises of more jobs, more trade, more power for Britain have all proved to be a con”.
“Naturally they blame everyone but themselves. At the time of the 2016 referendum Brexit campaign leaders had dismissed warnings that it would make Britain worse off, calling such claims ‘Project Fear’,” said Lord Heseltine.
He continued: “But those warnings turned out to be true. Now “Project Fear” has become “Project Here.”
“Promises that cutting ties with Brussels would make the UK better off had come to nothing”, he argues.
“Years later public opinion has come to realise the bankruptcy of those claims. The mood has changed and reflects a majority in favour of rejoining. The present government is making hesitant approaches to move in that direction but the fear of the extreme right is acting like a ball and chain on our political classes.
“We should reclaim our traditional role as a major European nation. We should do so in the interests of growing generations of our young people. We should do it in our interests as a nation state with limited resources. As a European partner we can compete with the world’s largest economies.
“Brexit was a self imposed disaster for this country. It erected barriers between our manufacturing and service industries and our largest market. In a range of cultural, artistic, environmental and academic policies. It left our diplomats waiting in the corridors to learn what decisions were being taken with profound consequences for us.”
