Staying in the European Union must remain an option as the "catastrophic" realities of cutting ties with Brussels take hold, Tony Blair has said.

The former prime minister has issued a rallying cry to those who voted to stay in June's referendum, telling them, "we're the insurgents now".

Mr Blair said the will of the people should be respected, but insisted Remain voters "have to believe in the people's innate sense, that they're also open to a better argument in the light of the facts as they come to light".

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Writing in the New European newspaper, he urged Remain voters to mobilise and organise to "prise apart the alliance which gave us Brexit" and insisted that, as the "catastrophic" realities of leaving become apparent, staying in must remain on the table.


Mr Blair said the sharp fall in the pound was a "negative prediction about our economic future", and the blocking of a Canada-EU free trade deal by a regional parliament in Belgium - a dispute that has since been resolved - as evidence Brexit may not take the form many Leave voters had envisaged.

He said: "The issue is not whether we ignore the will of the people, but whether, as information becomes available, and facts take the place of claims, the 'will' of the people shifts.

"Maybe it won't, in which case people like me will have to accept it.

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"But surely we are entitled to try to persuade, to make the argument, and not to be whipped into line to support a decision we genuinely believe is a catastrophe for the country we love."

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The ex-PM said Remain voters must win the argument that staying in the EU should remain an option, warning that anger and anxiety about immigration, globalisation, stagnant incomes, housing and squeezed public services will only worsen if we sever ties with Brussels.

"Right now there is one point and one point only to win: we should keep every option open," Mr Blair wrote.

"That this should even be contentious speaks loudly about how much those of us - and after all we were 16 million people - who believe Britain's future lies within the European partnership, have been shoved on to the defensive.

"We have to respect that people voted as they did. But we have to believe in the people's innate sense, that they're also open to a better argument in the light of the facts as they come to light.

"We have to recognise we're the insurgents now. We have to build the capability to mobilise and to organise.

"We have to prise apart the alliance which gave us Brexit."

Mr Blair said talks with French president Francois Hollande this week had "convinced" him that negotiations on Britain's exit from the EU would be "very, very tough".

Responding to Mr Blair's comments, a Downing Street spokesman said: "Tony Blair is entitled to put his views to whom he so chooses.

"But what's important is the PM has been absolutely clear - the British people have spoken, we are listening, we're going to leave the European Union.

"And not only has the PM been clear here but she's also been clear when she's met European leaders.

"There will be no second referendum, Britain is leaving the European Union."