Project Fear is ALIVE: Ex-Ukip chief says ‘we have to fight back' against Remain campaign
PROJECT Fear is alive and threatens to scupper Brexit, according to former Ukip leader Diane James.
Former UKIP leader Diane James has urged Brexiteers to fight back
Mrs James has warned Brexiteers their dream of leaving the European Union and going it alone will vanish unless they fight back.
She accused Remainers of hijacking the news agenda and spreading scare stories about what Brexit would mean for the UK.
And she said a constant diet of negative headlines could eventually lead to a change of heart by some who voted Leave.
Former UKIP leader Diane James: I don't think Brexit will happen
The Leave campaign has got to really galvanise its activity
She told express.co.uk: “The Remain campaign has stolen a march and taken the initiative and people are going to start thinking Brexit might be a bad thing after all.
"People are getting fed up.
“The Leave campaign has got to really galvanise its activity.”
Mrs James said the Government’s Brexit negotiating team needed to be given a higher profile and is concerned it lacks the talent and gravitas to fight Britain’s corner effectively.
Nigel Farage attempts to congratulate Diane James on her UKIP leadership election win
She said: “We have David Davis and that’s it. There are no big names.
“I think the Government has to put a lot more focus on the negotiating team and get some more well-known people in there.
“We have to put out our best team.”
She said recent stories about Euratom and the European Medicines Agency were examples of Project Fear trying to disrupt the process of leaving the EU and insisted Brussels had no intention of turning its back on British talent and expertise after March 2019.
And she said the hard versus soft Brexit argument was also manufactured by Remainers in a bid to divide Leave supporters.
David Davis need more big hitters on his Brexit team, according to Diane James
She said: “I don’t have any truck with this hard Brexit, soft Brexit thing.
“I want to see a smooth Brexit that benefits this country and doesn’t leave future generations having to pay for it.
“And I think we can leave the single market and the customs union and still do that.”
Forner UKIP leader Diane James says Project Fear is alive and well
Mrs James was a key Brexit cheerleader during last year’s EU referendum campaign and rode the crest of the Leave wave to become Ukip leader after the resignation of Nigel Farage.
But her reign lasted just 18 days before she stood down saying “it has become clear that I do not have sufficient authority, nor the full support of all my MEP colleagues and party officers to implement changes I believe necessary and upon which I based my campaign”.
She resigned from the party a few weeks later stating "it was time to move on" and that her relationship with UKIP had become "increasingly difficult”.
She has sat in the European Parliament as an independent since quitting Ukip.