'We can't go back on it!' Sky host skewers Nick Clegg's refusal to accept Brexit
NICK CLEGG was lambasted by Sky News host Adam Boulton for refusing to accept Brexit is going to happen at any cost.
Adam Boulton reminds Clegg: We can't go back on Brexit
The former Deputy Prime Minister criticised Theresa May’s direction on taking the UK out of the European Union and said a 'hard' Brexit would hurt Britons.
But Boulton hit back at the ex Liberal Democrat leader and insisted he needed to accept Brexit, accusing him of “reopening” old Remainer arguments.
He said: “The Vote Leave campaign in the referendum said it was quite clear the consequences of Leave would be that we couldn’t be in the single market.
Fighting off Mr Clegg, he added: “My point is, we can’t go back on all of that, to reopen this argument. Why should anyone vote for the Liberal Democrats?”
My point is, we can’t go back on all of that, to reopen this argument
Mr Clegg said the only argument he was “reopening” was about the wrong path the Prime Minister was taking over Brexit.
“The problem with this very stilted way of running the campaign by Theresa May is that she’s evading the simple scrutiny which she deserves and merits in a functioning mature democracy,” the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman said.
“Why has she taken a number of choices since June 23 last year, which will make Brexit a particularly damaging form of Brexit.
“She could have chosen to say to the rest of the European Union, of course I’m going to follow the instructions of the British people, take us out of the European Union, but I’m going to do it in the least economically destructive way possible.
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“She could have chosen to do that. She could have resuscitated the idea that was invented by Brits in the 1960s of EFTA for instance, the European Free Trade Association.
“You can go back on a hard Brexit, of course you can. I’m not reopening the argument about the referendum, I’m reopening the argument about the choices that Theresa May has made since.”
Mr Clegg has previously accused Brexiteers of being scared to hold a second referendum as they would be unable to convince the British public to accept the final deal with the EU.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has also hit back over his anti-Brexit stance, arguing the single market “wasn’t on the ballot paper” during a heated clash on ITV.
He took part in a fiery exchange with presenter Julie Etchingham on Monday night’s Tonight special with the politician.
It comes after the host bashed Mr Farron for calling for a second Brexit referendum on any proposed deal with the trading bloc.