No wonder we voted Leave: Arrogant Brussels chief says Brits TRICKED by 'shameless lies'
BRITAIN’S decision to quit the EU was a disaster, Brussels bigwig Martin Schulz claimed last night. He said voters were tricked into opting for Brexit by “shameless lies”.
Mr Schulz, president of the European Parliament, would not accept any responsibility for refusing to address the British electorate’s legitimate fears about immigration. His arrogant comments were condemned last night as typical of the outof-touch Brussels elite.
He was also accused of being outrageous when he claimed it was the “nasty” tone of the referendum campaign that led to pro-Remain MP Jo Cox being killed days before the vote. Mr Schulz was speaking to students at the London School of Economics at the end of a two-day visit in which he also met Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Britain’s decision to leave the EU was a “lose-lose” result, he claimed. “A G7 country, the second economy of the European single market, a permanent member of the UN Security Council leaving the European Union is a disaster for us and for the United Kingdom.”
Mr Schulz made clear that the European Parliament could veto any Brexit deal it did not agree with. The German politician insisted Britain could not expect full access to the EU single market while ditching uncontrolled EU migration.
He told his audience: “There will be no freedom of movement for goods, capital and services without free movement of persons. The Union is a community with a shared destiny, a model of society and not an accountants’ club.”
You can have border controls and free trade at the same time and that’s what we will have
He declined to accept any “personal responsibility” for the Brexit vote, although EU leaders have been blamed for failing to offer David Cameron enough concessions in his prereferendum talks.
No individual could be held responsible for a vote which came after 45 years of British uneasiness about Europe, he said. But his comments angered Brexit backers. Richard Tice, chairman of Leave Means Leave, said: “Martin Schultz confirmed today that he neither understands nor believes in democracy. The EU is yesterday’s story.”
Martin Schulz: We made concessions, you rejected them
Tory MP Peter Bone added: “You can have border controls and free trade at the same time and that’s what we will have. Mr Schulz is talking out of his backside. The European elite don’t understand what people are thinking.”
Mr Schulz earlier claimed that the referendum campaign featured “damaging and dangerous rhetoric” and “people shamelessly used lies to mislead voters”. He said the vote had “divided British society like no other event I can think of.
Many people are looking on with concern at the rise in xenophobic violence and hate crime over here”. Sparking fury, he cited Labour MP Mrs Cox’s killing as an example of how unpredictable such campaigns could be.
“Who would have anticipated that the campaign here in your country would get so nasty that a member of the UK Parliament would be brutally murdered in broad daylight for her political convictions?” he asked.
Charity campaigner Mrs Cox’s widower Brendan and their two young children were in Washington yesterday to meet President Barack Obama at the White House. Mr Bone said Mr Schulz’s comments about her were “outrageous”. And fellow Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused him of “trivialising” Mrs Cox’s death.