As the government’s Article 50 bill makes its way to the Lords this week, the ghosts of New Labour past are fighting to prevent a hard Brexit — or any Brexit at all. Following Tony Blair’s speech on Friday calling for the public to rise up and stop a ‘Brexit at any cost’, today it was Lord Mandelson’s turn. The former ‘prince of darkness’ appeared on the Andrew Marr show to warn of the new risks of Brexit under Theresa May.
Asked whether Brexit was really going to happen, Mandelson assured viewers that Parliament would respect the decision of the referendum — before pointing out that only ’36pc of the public voted to leave’. Mandelson warned that immigration would not fall post-Brexit and that the negotiation would result in less trade at a higher cost. The issue, Mandy went on, was not that Leave had won but that there had been a ‘big change in circumstance’ since the vote — pointing to the fact the UK could leave both the single market and the customs union.
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