Ex-PM Tony Blair says Britain will ‘do sensible thing’ and vote against Brexit

Former British prime minister Tony Blair said he believes British voters will “do the sensible thing” and vote to stay in the European Union in next month’s referendum.

“If we were to leave, it would put a level of economic insecurity into the ordinary family household that I think most people would think is a foolish risk to take,” Blair said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “But I have to say I look at politics round the world these days and it’s in an unpredictable state.”

Prime Minister David Cameron and his fellow campaigners for Britain to stay in the EU in the June 23 vote have made much of the risks to the economy and living standards they say a so-called Brexit would involve. A Treasury report warned British growth prospects would be “permanently damaged”. Proponents of leaving say Britain would be freer to strike its own trade deals with the rest of the world.

Blair, who left office in 2007 after 10 years, defended his own decision to open the door to migrants from Eastern Europe, which led to an influx that has driven much of the hostility to the EU within Britain. “Personally, I do not feel that the immigration from Eastern Europe was a problem for Britain,” he said. “I think those people contribute far more in taxes than they ever take in benefits. They’re hard-working people, they’re good members of our community.”

The former prime minister said “rational” people in Britain would welcome the words of Barack Obama, who warned against a Brexit during a visit to England last month. The US president’s intervention was attacked by many, including London Mayor Boris Johnson, who suggested he might dislike Britain because of his “part-Kenyan” ancestry.

A TNS poll released Wednesday found 39 per cent of people saying they’d vote to stay in the EU, 36 per cent saying they’d vote to leave, and 26 per cent undecided. The company interviewed 1,221 British adults online April 26-28. Its previous poll, published April 20, put the “Remain” side 4 percentage points ahead.

Blair, a former Labour Party leader, also weighed into the controversy over comments made last week by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone linking Hitler to Zionism, which highlighted broader concerns over racism in the party. “I know I speak for the overwhelming majority of Labour Party members when I say there’s absolutely no place for anti-Semitism in our party,” he said. “We have always been strong and powerful campaigners against that type of prejudice and that type of poison.”