Nick Clegg: Brexit was a ‘punch in the face’ for Britain

Brexit was a “self-inflicted punch” that left Britain “poorer, weaker, less secure and less sovereign”.

The “vast majority” of voters know this was a mistake, and Britain needs Europe more than ever because it can no longer rely on America to defend it.

The allegations were made in an interview by former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg. Independent as part of it Europe: The Way Back Campaign to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

Sir Nick, deputy prime minister in the 2010-15 Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government, compared Brexit to a “massive heart attack”.

In the 2016 referendum, pro-Brexit campaigners dismissed warnings that Britain would suffer great harm if it cut ties with Brussels as “Project Fear”; But he said the warnings were true Independent Editor Geordie Greig on Independent TV’s The Talk Show.

“Most of the rest of the world has had to deal with Covid, wars in Ukraine, Iran and so on,” Sir Nick said. “But no other country has punched itself in the face as forcefully as we have in the last 10 to 20 years.

“We are poorer, we are weaker, we are less secure and… the irony is, we are less sovereign. This is the tragedy of the lies from the Brexiteers that we would somehow take control. (This) has actually led to a decade in which we have less control over our own destiny.”

“The vast majority of British people know Brexit was a mistake. The vast majority of young people know passionately that it was a mistake and want to be reconnected to the European continent.”

Sir Nick said the Brexit mandate was “thin” due to a narrow vote margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent in the referendum.

“A lot of people who voted for Brexit didn’t think they gave Brexiteers the license to act as if they had won 90 per cent of the vote,” he said.

“They had not won: the country was equally divided. This meant that the Brexit we are now living with was even more self-defeating.”

Sir Nick, who joined US social media giant Facebook after his Liberal Democrat party performed poorly in the 2015 election, said some Britons had an exaggerated view of Britain’s place in the modern global pecking order.

“In the grand scheme of things, we’re a relatively small country floating around the muddy northwestern fringes of Europe. In my seven-odd years in Silicon Valley, the tech bros never asked me about the UK. They would sometimes ask me what my views were on Harry and Meghan… we Brits, because of our glorious and great history, overestimate how important we are to others.”

This was one of the reasons why Britain needed Europe. Additionally, Sir Nick said Brexit had failed economically.

‘The ‘Project Fear’ regarding some economic consequences turned out to be more accurate than assumed at the time,’ he said.

He added that leaving the EU reduced Britain’s GDP by 6 to 8 percent.

“This makes the economic damage of Brexit equivalent to the other big terrible economic heart attack of the last decade or two, the financial shock of 2008. (That’s) why we’re in such a powerless situation right now: two big economic heart attacks.”

“My message to those who still believe that going it alone is a valid strategy… that brave Britain can punch above its weight is a fantasy. We are only as strong as we are with others.”

Sir Nick expressed “real anger” at the “industrial-scale lies” of Brexiteers.

“It is a fundamental lie to claim that you can better control yourself by separating from your neighbors. We are not like China or the United States. We are a big country… we have a great history, but we are not even in the same league as the great powers that can determine their own destiny.”

Sir Nick said those who support leaving the EU believe in “fairy tales and fables” that our future is in America, not Europe.

“Whether you like it or not, we’re on this side of the Atlantic. We’re not part of the United States. We’re in Europe. We can pretend we’re somehow nestled next to Connecticut, as if the Brexiteers want to perpetuate this fable, this fairytale. We’re not: we’re right next to Belgium and the Netherlands.”

But Sir Nick saw no easy or quick way for Britain to join the EU.

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This was partly because other nations were wary of the changing attitude towards what Britain called the “Hockey Cokey” over the decades.

“If you’re sitting in Paris or Berlin or Brussels and you remember how much this endless melodrama, this Hokey Cokey in the UK, consumes their time and attention, we’re in, we’re out…”

Donald Trump’s hostility to Europe was another reason for moving closer to the EU because Britain could no longer rely on US help.

“There’s been a permanent shift in the body politic in the United States. If you listen to what Vance (and) Trump say, they don’t just think Europe is whiny and weak and weak – as we are unfortunately compared to the United States in many ways – they really underestimate Europe.”

“The things they really hate are immigrants… the rolling-eyed obsession with wind farms and whiny Europeans. This is not a temporary change, it’s permanent.”

“We can no longer rely on our traditional ally, the United States, we are alone. If anyone thinks it is wise to be alone in this modern world, they must have another thought.”

“Still Brexiteers and fantasists who believe that as a great maritime nation we can ride the waves and return to a history of battleship diplomacy to the hell of everyone else. That’s not the world we live in anymore.”

Sir Nick argued that Britain’s hopes of rejoining the EU may depend on Ukraine.

“When we return to Europe, our fate will be very tightly tied in one way or another to that of Ukraine. Ukraine will eventually join the EU. Given the sweat and treasure we have rightfully devoted to preserving Ukraine’s independence, it is unthinkable that Ukraine will have a place at the top decision-making table in Europe.”

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