Tony Blair Defends Wanting to Have a Second Referendum | Good Morning Britain

if brexit had heard lost and remain had one and the brexit ears said were not accepting the result of that referendum and we're demanding another one could you in all good conscience say you'd be sitting here saying they have an absolute right to have a second referendum before anything else happens no I mean I wouldn't add up no I wouldn't but then I do think the jury except though the brexit ears go well exactly so you know all these people crying for a second referendum actually if it had been reversed would have been the ones saying absolutely not right but here's the difference you know we are having done brexit we're changing our whole situation I don't think it's unreasonable when you then get to what that practically means so you you know let's be clear we all know a lot more about this now you know I know more about this now than I did three years right once you get to that point I don't think it's unreasonable to say let's go back and check whether people want to think there's a parallel let me throw a parallel T so when we vote in a general election every four and a half five years whatever out sort of exceptional circumstance we vote but we but we vote on manifestos often which turn out to be a load of old baloney they're the stuff that broken promises broken pledges people do not also know Nick Clegg in his tuition fees and so on but what we don't do is say well actually you know we didn't fully grasp the complexity of this manifesto and so we're not going to accept the result of general election but we knew after 5:00 what we do is this we allow the result to stand and the government to govern if we don't like it come the next election we vote them out and my point about brexit is surely we owe it to the British people who voted in gargantuan numbers on this we owe it to them to enact Briggs it and see if it works because my worry would be if we don't do that and we do slip in some second referendum and it goes the other way there will be hell to pay in this country seventeen point four million people will be all millions and millions so we don't know how many would vote second time around many might take the view why should I bother but many people would be enraged and so this problem wouldn't go away it wouldn't be resolved by a second referendum I think it would just demand another one I think the analogy is the if if when the government you know you elect a government and then it transpires they're not doing things you really like you can put them out the at the next election you allow them to govern first you allow you you allow going to prove that they can make what they promise work in a moment I'm not seeing a situation that allows Briggs it is to drive the train and try and prove this works yeah I'm seeing the will of Parliament going against the will of the people right but I think this is why I say to you I think you've got to come to a choice I think it's your point is completely valid in circumstances is it so the problem with trees amazed deal where you're not sure what the future holds but if you come to a view in politics opposing partner decides for a harbor exit then okay you've got a heart breaks that then by the way the negotiations reasonably straight few think Jeremy Corbyn wants to be in Europe or out of Europe I'm probably not the best person to ask but you know the answer and isn't the fact that none of us know the answer that question rather telling is that we've had two and a half years and the leader of the Labour Party still even on Sunday in an interview could not articulate or answer that simple question I think he's probably traditionally it breaks it here from the left right I mean you get you get this some people some people from the right want out of Europe because it's a socialist conspiracy and some people from the left one out of Europe because it's a capitalist conspiracy but I mean you know look the reasons by the way at you think you know I've discussed this before the reasons why this is important might be I think one of the unfortunate things about the whole debate is that we focus on that the economics which are very important for sure because you know that's all about jobs and investments on but you know the big reasons that we should be debating are about Britain's place in the world in a world that's going to be dominated not just by America but by China and I think the thing that I think is is missing from all this is you need some order in the structure of the debate so you come to a clear decision in Parliament but you also need to raise people's sites and say in the middle of this century where are we going to be as Britain as a country of this size in a 21st century where you're going to have two possibly three giants in the world and where everything it depends on what those giants do and the reason for Europe is basically medium sized countries like Britain France Germany and others unless we're together we haven't the weight our influence infer that argument was lost in the referendum said what they wanted was for the UK to be stronger to take back control of our laws our money on our borders that's how we operate in a new table we do independent trade deals I understand we're not part of an undemocratic conspiracy you know whether you're from the right or left you know no organization which doesn't seem to necessarily be working in our individual interests that's absolutely right but I guess what I'm saying is the question is in the decision of this magnitude do you just take a one-off decision that's it or do you take account of what has happened since then in order to think whether you think I think that I think the correct thing to do is you and you you exact what the public voted for and you go through with breaks it and you see if it works and if it doesn't work we always have the ability down the road to reverse it don't worry we can do that yeah none of this is easy we know that already get out but actually if we don't if we don't enact the referendum result I think there will be hell to pay in this country and this will then become the dominant thing which divides us for potentially generations okay so and that is a very strong argument I accept but there is an alternative argument which is that once people actually see what it means in practice and you force people to decide what type of brigs do you want you see what it means in practice I think it's not unreasonable to say to people okay we've got a far clearer idea of what the real choices are have a final say right you're you're asking you're not going back and asking and other people you're asking the British people David Cameron who was in your shoes as a British prime minister when this happened the week before the referendum it's all on video you can google him he said this is a once-in-a-lifetime vote there won't be a second vote and this means we leave the European Union we leave the single market he spelled it out and people were under this idea that people didn't know what they were voting for I remember very clearly we debated this every day on this I'm sure I remember it being pretty clear and so I think a lot of the seventeen point four million thing do these people think we're just stupid they feel insulted they think they think it's a bit like the debate and trip with Trump in America is like middle Americans go we knew what we were voting for we knew what we were going with Trump and by the way we preferred him to you liberal smartass I understand that but the difference is with President Trump you've got a did you know you'll have the opportunity in 2020 to reelect didn't do with Trump was once he won say we're not accepting it and actually witness not gonna have it yeah but my analogy is now that you see all the different changes look how many people said it was how many people really predicted it would be this messy in this difficult come back again that if it was the other way around and brings of tears we're trying to overturn the referendum absolutely everybody on your side screaming for second referendums and soul would be saying the complete opposite yeah but they by the way they would be still arguing that but it's different when you're actually changing the way the country is going to work so you know when it's not unreasonable to say to people look now we we see what it means in trade terms and investment terms in economic terms Parliament comes to a decision the British people have the final say but leave that aside for them because I I accept by the way there's not a majority in parliament for another referendum at the moment the key question at the moment is how do you bring some order and structure back in let me throw you another point there so I remember when I was editor the mirror and you and your team were very determined the the mirror get behind Britain entering the euro and I was assured by all of you that if we didn't it would be a complete disaster financially for this country and I'm hearing exactly the same rhetoric now about crashing out with no deal and so on it will be a disaster to which I say well okay but everyone was wrong about the euro it turned out to be the best thing we never did could it be that all the brains saying this will be a disaster but actually if we did crash out and we had to come together we had to make your work well you could may be sitting here in five years time a bit like with the euro decision and it may have worked and that brings it might actually be a good thing for this country can you say with certainty given what happened with the Euro the you may not be wrong yeah but the thing with the euro is the political reasons for joining were very clear the economic reasons weren't and that's why we in the end we never put it before people you were wrong in your assessment no I look I always I always said about the euro that there were political reasons for joining but economically we had to be aligned with Europe and we weren't but my point is could you be as many when I say we surface if aquestion came many would say Tony Blair you were wrong about the euro right you were wrong about Iraq how do you know you what many people would say that how do you know you're not wrong about this and how do you know them how do you know with certainty that brings it may not work I don't know one can know with certainty the question is you've got to look at the the probabilities and and the evidence before you I think if you because no deals different from hard breaks it by the way I mean hard breaks it is a deal it's just a hard break sit deal no deal you immediately go out of your trading arrangements that cover 60% of your trade I think you've got to say there's gonna be a problem now how big the problem is another matter but by the way I've never said that you can't do breaks it and sort yourself out eventually what I say in that this is my criticism of the hard breaks it is is you've got to be frank with people that if you come out of the trading arrangements you've been in for four and a half decades you're bound to cause economic pain now how much and over what period of time is another map before we let you go it sort of just pivot to what happened in New Zealand appalling attack by what appears to be a right-wing white supremacist we've seen a lot of attacks by Isis we've seen a lot of attacks rising attacks by far-right white supremacists the common theme is that they're using social media and all this new technology to spread their hate and perhaps be radicalized into their hate what do you think about this what is the what is the answer for top governments to how to tackle what is now a global problem on both sides of the political divide it's one of the things I work on now I think the answer is you've got to form an alliance between what I call the open-minded people in the world and that's whether they're in within the religion of Christianity Islam Judaism Buddhism Hinduism you've got to have a an alliance against this extremism and say we're going to root it out wherever it exists and the first point and place to start by the way is in the way young people are educated because around the world today there are millions of young people educated to a closed-minded view of the world that if you don't think like me your you're my enemy and what I'm actually been suggesting is that just as we have a global agreement now on the environment and we say what happens within our borders can affect what happens outside our borders we should do the same with education and we need this needs to be an argument against faith schools it's an argument that faith schools should not be preaching that only this faith is a valid faith so whether you're a faith school or a non faith school you should all be cultivating an open-minded approach to people who are different and whether it's you know right-wing extremists targeting Muslims or Islamists that are targeting you know whoever you this is a fundamental problem and it's gonna get worse unless we tackle it at its roots but at this roots is the root of it is a close-minded view of the world that says I think like I think and I'm entitled to make you think the same way and if you don't you're my and me Tony Blair thank you very much for coming in today we appreciate it you

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 103,694

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, piers morgan, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, theresa may, tony blair, european union, second referendum, uk politics, brexit news, prime minister, labour party, 2nd referendum brexit, brexit peoples vote, theresa may brexit, brexit deal, good morning britain brexit, tony blair brexit, tony blair interview

Id: -YDsWvR6cbI

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2019