Sir Vince Cable: Brexit may never happen
2 min read
Brexit may never happen, according to would-be Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable.
The former business secretary said the problems and political divisions in the face of quitting the EU were “so enormous” the plan could simply fall through.
The Lib Dems promised Britons a referendum on the final Brexit deal at the general election in June, but Sir Vince said the policy failed to "cut through” with voters.
However he still backed the plan, saying it provided a “way out” of Brexit.
He told the Andrew Marr show this morning: “I’m beginning to think Brexit may never happen. I think the problems are so enormous, the divisions within the two major parties are so enormous, I can see a scenario in which this doesn’t happen.
“Our policy of a second referendum, which didn’t really cut through in the general election, is designed to give a way out when it becomes clear that Brexit is potentially disastrous.”
'MEIN KAMPF'
Elsewhere in the interview, he rowed back on his claim that Theresa May’s speech to last year's Conservative conference "could have been taken from Mein Kampf".
He admitted he had misplaced his literary references in his interview last week with the New Statesman, and said in fact her claim about "citizens of nowhere" should have been attributed to Joseph Stalin.
“I didn’t at all [make the comparison]. I got my literary reference wrong. I think it was Stalin who talked about rulers cosmopolitans," he said.
“If you read the next sentence I said it was totally out of character and that provided the balance in the quote.”
Mrs May used the phrase while lambasting company bosses she claimed were acting like an "international elite" and ignoring the needs of British workers.
"If you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere," she had told Tory supporters.
