Former Tory prime minister says Ukip spreads ‘negativity and sheer nastiness’ and that the UK is far better off in the EU

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Sir John Major has attacked the UK Independence party (Ukip) for spreading profoundly un-British politics of “negativity and sheer nastiness”, as he warned the UK would be a less relevant nation if it left the European Union.

The former Conservative prime minister made his comments days after predicting that there was 50-50 chance of Britain leaving the EU, as support for Ukip and tensions between London and Brussels over immigration reforms increase.

Major said he was not close enough to the prime minister, David Cameron, to become a new ambassador or negotiator for the UK in Brussels, but Downing Street is understood to approve of his call for Britain to stay in a reformed EU.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, Major suggested reforms could include allowing national parliaments to “block alien and unwelcome legislation”, and the possibility of controls on the free movement of people.

Some EU members, including Germany, have said that freedom of movement is non-negotiable, but Major said he had faith that any reasonable requests Britain made could be accommodated. He said he believed there would be no need to threaten to walk away because the reforms were achievable.

“I really wouldn’t want to be the prime minister who had to explain that we are sinking to a much lower level of relevance in the world outside the European Union with the doors in the corridors of power being closed to us.

“On every count, despite its frustrations, of which there are many, despite the reforms we need, which are many, we are far better off in the European Union than outside.”

Major also said the appeal of Nigel Farage’s party should fade once hard-pressed voters stop feeling the pinch as the economy improves.

“The policies of Ukip, the direction of Ukip is, it seems to me, profoundly un-British in every way,” he said. “They are anti-everything. They are anti-politics, they are anti-foreigner, they are anti-immigrant, they are anti-aid. I don’t know what they’re for.

“We know what they are against, and that’s the negativity of the four-ale bar. That’s not the way to get into parliament and not the way to run a country.”

He suggested Ukip’s stance on foreign aid contrasted with “the huge generosity of the British people” towards charitable causes including Children in Need and the fight against Ebola.

“People, even in times of hardship, are prepared to put their hands in their pockets and be generous to other people,” he said. “What a counterpoint that is to the negativity and sheer nastiness of much of what Ukip stands for.”

Tim Aker, Ukip’s policy chief, responded to Major on Twitter, saying the former prime minister “has some cheek saying Ukip engage in anti-politics”.

“Remember ‘New Labour, New Danger’ and demon eyes posters? Hypocrite,” he said.

The shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, told Sky News: “It’s a tragedy for Britain that we are seeing more effective leadership from an ex-Conservative prime minister than the present Conservative prime minister.

“Of course there is reform and change that can be secured within Europe in relation to immigration and in relation to other issues. I thought John Major made a convincing case that change is possible.

“The tragedy for the UK is that we have a prime minister today who is so weak in the face of his own backbenchers internally, and the threat of Ukip externally, that he seems incapable of grasping that reform opportunity.”

Alexander acknowledged that the “scale of immigration we have seen in recent years has brought to bear particular pressures on particular communities”.

“That’s why we need to see sensible reforms,” he said.