Britain must rejoin the EU single market in five years, Sir John Major says in withering criticism of Brexit

Britain must rejoin the EU single market in five years, Sir John Major says in withering criticism of Brexit Exclusive: In a wide-ranging interview for The Independent with editor in chief Geordie Greig, the former PM warned that the UK is losing £100bn a year in trade and £40bn in tax receipts because of Brexit - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Britain should rejoin the European Union’s single market within the next five years, Sir John Major has said as he issued a scathing critique of the impact of Brexit – and those behind the decision to leave. In an exclusive interview with The Independent’s editor in chief Geordie Greig to mark the tenth anniversary of the EU referendum, the former prime minister called on the government to be “honest” with the British people about the devastating damage of leaving the EU and said the new prime minister should make closer relations with Europe a central part of their premiership. Signing up to the single market would mean having to accept a wide range of EU rules and the return of freedom of movement for people between the UK and Europe – both of which would prove controversial. Europe: The Way Back We're campaigning to rebuild Britain's future in Europe But Sir John said it was an important step in repairing the broken relationship and should pave the way for a longer-term goal of fully rejoining the EU. Sir John was speaking to The Independent as part of its Europe: The Way Back campaign. Watch the interview in full here: In a withering attack on the leaders of the Brexit campaign including Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove over the economic damage of Brexit, he said: “Michael Gove said after we leave we will hold all the cards. Well, the only card they held were P45s for people who lost their jobs.” Sir John said their claim that it would allow Britain to “take back control” was “an empty slogan”, and that they had promised a “land of milk and honey” – but millions of people had “lost out” instead. Sir John, the Conservative prime minister from 1990 to 1997, warned that every man and woman in the UK is worse off financially as a result of leaving the EU. He referenced the Bank of England’s recent analysis which found that the British economy was an estimated six to eight per cent smaller as a result of Brexit. ”Even if you take the lower figure we have lost about £100bn worth of trade each year – that £100bn would have yielded about £40bn worth of tax to the exchequer. If we'd had that £40bn annually over the last few years many of the difficult and unpopular decisions that have been taken would not have been necessary.” He derided the Brexiteers’ ‘take back control’ slogan, their pledge to “regain sovereignty” and accused them of making “impossible promises”. Sir John said: “We know who the losers are. It is every wallet, every purse and every balance sheet in the country. They are the losers. There’s only one country in the world that is completely sovereign and that is North Korea.” He claimed Brexiteers “know in their heart” that Brexit had “failed to deliver.” ”If you're seeking to make Brexit succeed after ten years, you are admitting tacitly that it has failed thus far. It has failed thus far and I think will continue to do so,” he said. Sir John said he was outraged that having successfully spearheaded the Brexit campaign and “significantly damaged our country,” that Mr Farage now seeks more political power by bidding to become prime minister. He remained “angry” at “the way the (referendum) vote was perverted by what was said would be the outcome of leaving the EU. “It implied a land of milk and honey, we were going to be stronger and more sovereign. None of those things have actually come about.” Sir John said there was no ‘imminent’ prospect of the UK rejoining the EU, but he added: “The aim within the next five years must be to rejoin the single market. We are going to have to be absolutely honest with the British people. If we go back into the single market, we say, ‘here are the gains we propose and here is the price that we will have to pay for it’. I think the bargain will be worthwhile.” He said young people hold the key to whether the UK rejoins the EU in the long term. ”There is a change coming… the next generation. The vast vote to leave largely came from people who were elderly. As of this day, 68 per cent of people think leaving was a mistake and 32 think it was not.” The intervention is a devastating analysis from a former prime minister whose time in Downing Street in the 1990s was plagued by eurosceptics - the so-called “Maastricht Treaty rebels" who laid the groundwork for the UK’s Brexit vote a decade ago. More than two in three voters now saw Brexit as a mistake, said Sir John, who observed: “So I think we will get back into Europe.” But, he admitted, the negotiations would not be easy. “We will have to take it slowly and make sure everybody is fully on board. So it's not too early for people to start arguing the case, because it will take a long time.” Sir John dismissed the ‘crude hostility’ and lack of ‘positivity’ of Farage’s Reform UK. ”What is their unique selling brand? They don't offer any inspiration or hope. The button they push is migration – which is falling, and so is their vote. And that that will continue to happen.” And he issued a fresh demand to Mr Farage to reveal more details about his £5 million donation from foreign based British crypto currency billionaire Christopher Harborne, which he equated to the lifetime earnings of five Britons on a £20,000-a-year salary. Mr Farage’s Reform UK was in danger of becoming “the fully fledged subsidiary of overseas billionaire money”, he added. The public, Sir John said, had a right to expect Mr Farage to come clean about how and whether any strings were attached to the gift. It was “an extraordinary sum of money” and Farage had offered ‘a range of explanations for it. Sir John said: ‘“It's for my security,” he [Farage] said. Then on another occasion, he said “it's for me getting Brexit through.” And then on another occasion he said ‘it's for me to spend exactly as I like on cars.’ He is a public figure aiming for the highest position in our land, and we need to know what obligations he may have and to whom.” Sir John continued: “Many people have a salary after tax and National insurance contributions of no more than £20,000. That in a working life of 50 years is £1 million. Nigel Farage has just been gifted a sum that is equivalent to the total amount earned in five working lives for these people, and he seems to think it is entirely a personal matter, and that it is an insult for everybody else to look at that. ”If I were given £5 million, I think I would feel a little obligated to the donor. 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