Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an opponent of the Brexit move to separate the United Kingdom from the European Union, said Friday that he feels sorry at a personal level for current
Prime Minister David Cameron, who has announced his resignation, and most of all for the United Kingdom.
"I think this result has huge implications for us, economically and politically," Blair told Fox News'
"Fox & Friends" program, which interviewed him on the issue for about five minutes before cutting him off to return to its coverage of Donald Trump's press conference from Scotland.
Blair said he does not know if Cameron made the right decision to resign, "but he will in any event stay probably until October, so it will at least allow us to take some time with him still as prime minister, which I think is important."
And, he continued that "we have got to accept the result" of Thursday's vote.
"When you have a referendum like this you do indeed make momentous decisions, but as you can see from the reaction on the financial markets and with our own currency today, we have grown trading relations with Europe over 40 years," said Blair.
"It was the policy of successive governments. Margaret Thatcher's, John Major's, my own, David Cameron's, to stay inside Europe because we believe it's important economically and politically."
But separating itself from the European Union will be "very difficult," Blair said, conceding that there is a "huge amount of anxiety and concern" on the issue of immigration.
"I don't think we will deal with that concern by leaving Europe," said Blair. "But undoubtedly it was a popular revolt against those who have taken this position across the political spectrum for many years."
One of the show's anchors told Blair that the United Kingdom won't be leaving Europe, but decision will make it tougher for others to enter the United Kingdom.
"We're actually part of the full arrangements within Europe and in any event, what you did have within Europe is the free movement of people," Blair responded.
"I understand the anxieties that people have, although the fact that we've got eastern Europe anchored in the European Union today, particularly when you look what's happening with Russia, is in my view a good thing."
Further, he said that the decision could affect the United Kingdom's economic situation, as half the goods and services go to the European market.
"If we want access back into that market, we're going to have to negotiate the terms and we have to negotiate them and each of the 27 countries, their government, parliament, got to agree to the terms and the European parliament," said Blair.
"I'm not ignoring the vote, but people shouldn't ignore the consequences. They'll be quite big."
And the vote won't change the issues behind immigration, said Blair, as most immigants come from outside Europe and not people who are already in the European Union and traveling between countries.
"In respect to Syrian refugees, we have the perfect right — because we're not part of the full European system," said Blair. "We have a perfect right to determine who comes into the [country]," he said, as show host Steve Doocy interrupted him mid-sentence to flip the show's coverage back to Trump.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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