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Ex-UK PM Blair Believes No-Deal Brexit Can Spark 'Silent Revolution' in UK

© AP Photo / Bruce KluckhohnFormer British Prime Minister Tony Blair (File)
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (File) - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair voiced the belief in his interview for the Sky News broadcaster on Sunday that a no-deal exit from the European Union could spark a "silent revolution" in the country.

Blair said that while UK politicians were discussing the need to avoid riots by ardent Brexit supporters, a silent protest was also a worrying option.

"If we go ahead and tumble out of the European Union with a no-deal Brexit of the sort that [former leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel] Farage and [former UK Foreign Secretary] Boris Johnson and these people want, you are going to get a silent revolution in this country as well… There are people who are going to feel so strongly about this, that I just say this to both main political parties — they're going to sweep them away," Blair said.

READ MORE: UK Could Be Set for 'Continual Brexit Extensions' — Brexit Party Organiser

Blair, who used to serve as the prime minister between 1997 and 2007, warned that a no-deal Brexit, favored by Farage and Johnson, would cause "extreme damage" to the United Kingdom.

People demonstrate against Brexit on a balcony in London, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, as Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson delivers a speech focusing on Britain leaving the EU. The Foreign Office says Johnson will use a speech Wednesday to argue for an outward-facing, liberal and global Britain after the U.K. leaves the bloc - Sputnik International
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Blair, who has long been speaking in favor of a second Brexit referendum, added that withdrawal from the European Union was in fact an "answer to nothing."

He noted that the share of remainers in the country was "larger and stronger" than that of Brexiteers.

The United Kingdom was initially supposed to leave the European Union on March 29. The parties have agreed on the withdrawal deal, but UK lawmakers have refused to pass it with the arrangement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland being one of the main points of concern for the parliamentarians.

The Brexit deadline was subsequently moved to October 31.

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