Tony Blair has said Labour supporters who have been put off by the party’s ambiguity on Brexit should consider voting for an ‘unequivocal’ Remain party at the European elections.
Delays to the withdrawal agreement mean that the country will go to the polls on May 23 to elect 73 MEPs for the United Kingdom to sit in Brussels.
And while former prime minister Blair said he would be voting Labour “despite everything”, he suggested supporters put off by the “equivocation” of Labour to vote for other parties.
He wrote in the Observer: “There are unequivocal remain parties – Liberal Democrats, Change UK, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru.
“If, because of Labour’s equivocation, you simply won’t vote Labour, then vote for them. If, like me, despite everything, you can vote Labour, then vote Labour.”
The former Labour leader also said the result of the poll would be seen through the prism of Britain’s departure from the European Union.
“This is not a vote to choose a prime minister or a government. It is a vote for the Farage Brexit – or against it,” he wrote.
Elsewhere in his column, Blair speaks of “destructive indecision” in the party.
He wrote: “The local elections were terrible for the Conservatives but, on any rational analysis, devastating for Labour.
“We are almost 10 years into austerity, with the public realm – Labour’s political sweet spot – in disrepair. Yet Labour could not even win the local elections.
“Despite Keir Starmer’s best efforts, the leadership’s ambiguity on Brexit has brought it confusion, not shelter from principled decision on the most vital question of national interest.”
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