Heseltine: It’s time to reverse Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’s ‘heinous crime’ of Brexit

Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage should “hang their heads in shame” for the damage they did by leading the campaign to see Britain leave the EU, Michael Heseltine has claimed.

The former Conservative Party deputy prime minister said 10 years after the EU referendum his claims that Brexit would bring huge benefits to the UK had become “bankrupt” and left voters convinced it should be reversed.

Lord Heseltine, who served under the governments of John Major and Margaret Thatcher, writes that the British public has been “lied to” by a “disgusting crime”. Independent after launching Europe – The Way Back offer.

Brexit was a “self-imposed disaster” and it is time for Britain to “recover our traditional role as a major European country” and rejoin the EU.

His intervention came after a new poll revealed that almost half of British people want a second Brexit referendum, including a fifth of voters from Mr Farage’s party, Reform UK.

Research by Ipsos, King’s College London and the UK in Changing Europe found that a majority of the public are open to a rapprochement with the EU, with almost half supporting a closer relationship and 60 per cent wanting more cooperation in defence.

The number of people who say Brexit is going worse than they expected has almost doubled in the last five years; From 27 percent in 2021 to 48 percent today; This proportion is higher than those who say it is going better than expected.

Passionate European Lord Heseltine said it was clear that few of those leading the Brexit campaign claimed it had been successful.

‘Where are Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage, Dominic Cummings and their accomplices’ glowing praise for Brexit for the land of milk and honey they say it will bring us?’ writes.

“Never have so few people done so much harm to so many people with so little ability to practice what they lied about.

“Normally, they do not hesitate to speak their minds. The reason for this is clear: Their scandalously false statements have turned to dust and ashes. ‘They are the guilty ones and they should hang their heads in shame.’

Lord Heseltine accuses leading Brexiteers such as Mr Johnson and Mr Farage of “distracting from their disgusting political crimes”. Instead, they offered “feeble excuses for why all the bold promises of more jobs, more trade, more power for England have proven to be a scam.”

Lord Heseltine said: “Naturally they blame everyone but themselves. During the 2016 referendum, Brexit campaign leaders dismissed warnings that this would make Britain worse off and called such claims ‘Project Fear’.”

He continued: “But those warnings turned out to be true. ‘Project Fear’ has now become ‘Project Here’.

He argues that “promises that cutting ties with Brussels would make Britain better off are in vain.”

“Years later, the public has realized the bankruptcy of these claims. The mood has changed and the majority is reflecting in favor of rejoining. The current government is taking hesitant approaches in this direction, but the fear of the far right acts like a ball and chain on our political classes.

“We must regain our traditional role as a major European country. We must do this in the interests of our younger generation. We must do this in our own interests as a nation-state with limited resources. As a European partner we can compete with the world’s largest economies.”

“Brexit was an inherent disaster for this country. It erected barriers between our manufacturing and service industries and our largest market. On a range of cultural, artistic, environmental and academic policies. It forced our diplomats to wait in the corridors to find out what decisions were being made that would have profound consequences for us.”