Brexiteers ‘will have questions to answer’, says Paschal Donohoe
Hard-line Brexiteers will have no one to blame except themselves if they get everything they want from the crisis, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned.
Mr Donohoe said the rise of Brexit and US president Donald Trump is due in part to an ongoing battle between the political centre and populist, nationalistic movements.
Speaking at a specially arranged Institute of International and European Affairs event at the Gresham Hotel, Mr Donohoe said if a no-deal Brexit leads to a cut in British living standards, hard-line Brexiteers will have questions to answer.
“A populist agenda achieves either government or power but cannot achieve the objectives of a defining project. Who is left to blame?
“As a thought experiment, imagine the very hardest of Brexits consciously occurs in line with the agenda of the hardest Brexiteers.
“But the consequences include a significant reduction in living standards across the UK and there is limited scope to achieve big trade deals without further impacting on the living standards and working conditions of the UK population.
“Who is left to blame? None of the answers to this question are good,” he said.
During the same event, in which Mr Donohoe declined to take on-the-record questions from the media, the Finance Minister noted the rise of US president Donald Trump and Brexit in recent years.
While saying the issue is not as prevalent in Ireland, he said it is important the political centre ground holds firm against extreme populist movements, provided it also acknowledges some of their concerns.
