Also spoke at Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival last evening
Brexit would put Britain at a “very big disadvantage” and force companies to move resources to continental Europe, Hillary Clinton told BBC while touring Britain to launch her book ‘What Happened’.
The former US presidential candidate has warned Britain that it could face serious disruption if it left the EU without a negotiated deal with Brussels: “I think it would be a very big disadvantage to Britain. No deal meaning no preferential trade deals, which means products in Britain would not have the kind of easy access to the European market that you’ve had under EU membership.”
“It could very well mean that there would be more pressure on businesses in Britain, if not to leave completely, at least (to) also have sites and employment elsewhere in Europe. The disruption for Britain could be quite serious,” Clinton added.
Prime Minister Theresa May had visited Trump earlier this year to talk trade as the countries share $200 billion of trade each year, media reports state. Clinton has, however, urged Britain to be careful while forging a new trade relationship with the US as Trump “doesn’t believe in trade”, she said.
The Democratic Party candidate who lost to Trump in last year’s presidential election also spoke about the misinformation campaign and went on to compare the factors behind the Brexit vote to her own election loss: “Looking at the Brexit vote now, it was a precursor to some extent of what happened to us in the United States.”
“You know, the big lie is a very potent tool… There has to be some basic level of fact and evidence in all parts of our society,” Clinton added.
Asked whether she was concerned that Trump would launch a nuclear attack during his presidency, Clinton admitted she was genuinely worried by this scenario and said Congress is “trying to figure out” how they can limit Trump’s power in order to prevent a nuclear war.
“Republicans and Democrats are scratching their heads trying to figure out how they interpose – maybe they’ll say [a nuclear attack] has to be jointly signed off by the secretary of defence and the secretary of state. Some are even saying there should have to be a declaration of war [by Congress],” Clinton said, in the light of Trump threatening North Korea with “fire and fury” after Pyongyang conducted a series of nuclear missile tests earlier this year.
Read related story: North Korea moves their aircraft to east coast, as they say the US has “declared war”
“A lot of people thought I was probably exaggerating it, but now we are worried and Congress is worried about whether they can take that power away from Trump so that in a moment of pique he doesn’t pick up that phone and call whoever is sitting in the control centre today,” Clinton clarified while speaking at the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival last evening.
The audience included London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Labour Party Deputy Leader Tom Watson, and former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
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