EU forces UK to ‘turn its back on wider world’, says ex-Aussie PM Tony Abbott
FORMER Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has insisted Brexit will have a positive impact on the world despite scaremongering claims from European Union officials.
Tony Abbott: Brexit will be good for the world
Mr Abbott backed post-Brexit Britain to prosper as he shunned moaning EU bureaucrats who he said campaigned for Remain because “Europe needed Britain”.
In attendance at the Tory conference, the Australian politician praised Britain for its decision and said now is the time for the wider world to “make the most of Brexit".
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Abbott, who was PM of Australia between 2013 and 2015, criticised the UK’s EU membership because it forced them “to turn their back on the wider world”.
The former Remainer defended his previous posision in the run-up to the vote when he said: “Many are in my position; the Chancellor and the Prime Minister herself.
Tony Abbott has rubbished EU fears that Brexit will have a negative impact on the world
Remain only made sense because Europe needed Britain, not because Britain needed Europe
“But I believe Remain only made sense because Europe needed Britain, not because Britain needed Europe.
“Having made the decision, to leave, it is so important that Britain and the wider world makes the most of it.
“Britain has a historic destiny with the wider world and one of the downsides of joining Europe was a certain amount of British turning its back on the wider world and I think now that can change.
“Britain can now continue to engage fully in Europe but no longer as a member of the EU and engage with the wider world.”
The ex-Australian prime minister also backed Theresa May to use an Australian immigration system
The Australian also backed Theresa May’s Government to follow an Australian-style immigration system, which he described as the “gold standard”.
He added: “The important thing is countries control can enter them, as my predecessor John Howard famously said, ‘we will control who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’.
“Australia, as you might know, has the gold standard on border protection, the one country in recent times which has successfully got on top of an immigration crisis.
“But to speak more generally with immigration the important thing is in the best interests of the country which is accepting the immigrants.
“Immigrants that come to work, particularly in high skilled jobs which can’t always be filled domestically, they are certainly making a contribution.”