Chances of no-deal Brexit ‘accelerated’: Clegg

LONDON: Nick Clegg has said the chances of the UK leaving the EU without a deal have been “accelerated” by the Conservatives’ insistence that Brexit is essential for the party’s survival.

The former deputy prime minister, who led the Liberal Democrats into coalition with the Tories and is a vocal campaigner for a second referendum, said Brexit had been “hijacked”. The Conservative leadership race has seen candidates support the UK’s departure by the current deadline of October 31, even if a deal cannot be approved by Parliament.

On Tuesday, Clegg said: “I think the chances of a no-deal outcome have accelerated because the Conservative Party, as they always do, have put their own survival ahead of the survival of the union of the United Kingdom. And they decided that delivering Brexit, however that economically impacts today, is absolutely imperative for their survival.”

But despite Clegg praising the Lib Dems’ “Lazarus-like” resurgence in the European elections, the current Facebook global affairs chief said he did not regret no longer leading the party. Speaking at The Times CEO Summit, he issued a staunch defence of his new employer and said it was “ludicrous” to compare the social media giant’s role in publishing with that of a newspaper. He denied the Silicon Valley giant was a monopoly and said it would be a mistake for legislators to try to break it up in a response to an outcry over its role in spreading misinformation. “I totally understand why people say ‘something must be done’. I just happen to think that the ‘something must be done’ is more complicated, painstaking work on regulating the internet,” he said.

“I think that ‘break them up’ is an understandable viewpoint but it’s trying to wish away the difficult dilemmas.” He was staunch in denying that Facebook should be responsible for content on its platform in the same way newspaper editors are”.