Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Blair: Labour will pay price for Corbyn’s ‘closet’ Euroskepticism Former PM says Labour leader’s handling of Brexit has left the party in ‘the worst of both worlds.’

LONDON — The U.K.'s Labour Party will pay “a heavy price” for Jeremy Corbyn’s “closet Euro-scepticism,” according to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In his latest intervention in the Brexit debate, Blair said on Tuesday that Labour is failing to lead on the issue, repeated his call for a second referendum on the government’s eventual deal with Brussels, and said the country would be harmed by Labour’s stance, calling it a “tragedy.”

Blair, a longstanding critic of Corbyn’s leadership, said that the current Labour leader’s handling of Brexit has left the party in “the worst of both worlds.”

“The Leavers think we're not really for Leave because we want to stay in the Customs Union and as I say for many Leavers that is an unacceptable compromise,” he said in an article published to coincide with a report on Brexit and customs, drawn up by his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“The Remainers, however, have now cottoned on to the fact Labour is not really for remaining either, except in the very limited sense of the Customs Union, and so, unsurprisingly, they're losing faith in Labour as a route to avoid Brexit.

“The Labour Party will pay a heavy price for the leadership’s closet Euro-scepticism. The tragedy is the price the country will pay for Labour’s failure to lead.”

Blair, who led Labour between 1994 and 2007, repeated his call for Labour to back a second referendum once the government has concluded its Brexit negotiations.

“It would be a straightforward and in my view electorally winning position if the Labour Party were to say: we accepted the referendum verdict; we gave the Government the opportunity to negotiate a good deal; it is now apparent they can't; it is equally apparent that this is not only because of division and incompetence but because there is no resolution to the Dilemma; therefore, we reject the deal but you, the British people, should have the final decision,” he said.

“You began Brexit, you mandated the negotiation and you should decide how it ends.”