'It Isn't Inevitable': Tony Blair Hints at Possible U-Turn on Brexit

The United Kingdom's looming departure from the European Union is not inevitable and the UK public can still reverse the process once it finds out the costs of Brexit, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The former Labour leader slammed the government for its focus solely on Brexit, accusing Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet of neglecting issues such as the crisis in the strained public health sector, rising crime, overcrowded prisons and the need for economic reforms. Blair also warned of a possible breakup of the United Kingdom as a result of Brexit.

"The people voted without knowledge of the terms of Brexit. As these terms become clear, it is their right to change their mind… They [Brexit supporters] will say the will of the people can't alter. It can. They will say that leaving is inevitable. It isn't," Blair said at an event hosted by an anti-Brexit pressure group called Open Britain, calling on anti-Brexit campaigners to intensify debates on the issue.

"The possibility of the break-up of the UK, narrowly avoided by the result of the Scottish referendum, is now back on the table, but this time with a context much more credible for the independence case," Blair said.

On the same day, Blair's office announced that he would set up a thinktank for working on policy issues surrounding the Brexit debate as well as wider issues of globalization.

Blair weighed in on the debate just a month before the government's planned triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will kick-start lengthy negotiations on the conditions of exit.