Former UK PM hits out at ‘regressive’ Brexit as exercise in ‘self harm’

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>former British prime minister has accused the UK Government of embarking on a policy of national &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;self harm” over Brexit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>John Major used a speech at Newcastle Cathedral on Thursday to say that EU withdrawal will impact on the young and less well-off the hardest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ex-PM also expressed concern at poverty levels and the widespread use of food banks as he admitted that he failed in his aim of creating &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a country at ease with itself” when he was in power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Major said that EU withdrawal would deliver &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;far worse times” for the UK&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He told the North East England Chamber of Commerce&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is the first time in our long history that any British Government has embraced a policy of self-harm&comma; despite their own advisers warning that it will make our nation weaker – and our people poorer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I believe Brexit is regressive&period; The campaigners for &OpenCurlyQuote;Leave’ promised better times&comma; yet Brexit will deliver far worse times&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Centre for European Reform estimates Brexit is already costing our public finances £320m a week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;And this&comma; of course&comma; excludes the &OpenCurlyQuote;divorce bill’ of £39bn&comma; and the growing cost across Government of managing our exit from Europe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In addition&comma; almost every sector of business has warned of trouble ahead – and every independent study of every conceivable Brexit – even by our own Government – shows that once we leave&comma; the UK will be worse off&comma; year after year after year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I can recall nothing to match this&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Major said that Brexit would hit the young and those with least the hardest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;And what makes this even more extraordinary is that we are a welfare state society&period; Those who will suffer the most are those who have the least&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Over time&comma; the young may prove to be the biggest losers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In advance of Brexit&comma; they fear for their future&period; Post Brexit – if they turn out to be right – they may neither forget nor forgive those responsible&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125527" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125527" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;02&sol;2D20A1F4-BDA1-48AA-BB12-DF40FF339BF1&period;jpeg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-125527" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;02&sol;2D20A1F4-BDA1-48AA-BB12-DF40FF339BF1&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"405" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125527" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ex-PM John Major has branded Brexit an act of &OpenCurlyQuote;self harm’<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Mr Major called for a renewed drive against poverty&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Britons know they live in a democratic country&comma; but many no longer believe they are living in a fair society&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;And&comma; in this&comma; they are right&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I entered Number 10 29 years ago with an ambition to build a country &OpenCurlyQuote;at ease with itself’&period; I failed&period; So have all my successors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But&comma; today&comma; the need to build such a society is even greater&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The poverty of today is not the grinding poverty of yesteryear&period; At the height of our empire&comma; millions of Britons struggled to eat&period; But relative poverty – the invisible poverty that often bypasses social safety nets – is still a potent issue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It cannot be right that – in the fifth or sixth richest nation in the world – food banks have become essential in the lives of so many people&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We see poverty as a social evil which&comma; of course&comma; it is&period; It destroys lives&period; But I would argue that it is far more than that – it is an economic evil&comma; too&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The case against poverty is unanswerable&period; Ending it may be expensive but – in the long-term – it may be more costly not to do so&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Major also called for more emphasis to be put on regional investment and development&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed35301aa5b">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; 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