'Disaster for this country': Nick Clegg tears into Nigel Farage over 'tremendous damage' done by Brexit

The former deputy prime minister, who campaigned to remain the European Union ahead of the referendum in 2016, said Brexit has made us less prosperous, arguably less safe and "certainly made us less influential and relevant in the affairs of the world".

Sir Nick told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that Brexit "was clearly a unique self inflicted wound".

In addition to naming Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, Sir Nick blamed Nigel Farage, who he claimed "gets away scot-free".

Sir Nick said: "I mean his great achievement in life is a disaster for this country and no one holds him to account."

He said: "I just think in life there's nothing wrong with saying look, we thought this was going to turn out differently. The people who advocated have clearly failed and they had their chance."

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Sir Nick said of Mr Farage: "He's the author of this lost decade and he's sort of preening himself as if he might be the next Prime Minister.

"And the problem is the other parties don't want to take him on because they don't want to talk about Brexit."

He continued: "This has done us tremendous damage. The people who delivered it haven't been held to account and we have to get out of the this sort of deep freeze we're in and accept that it is perfectly reasonable to say we gave this a go."

The UK officially left the EU at 11pm – midnight in Brussels – on January 31 2020, after three-and-a-half years of political wrangling that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Sir Nick revealed the impact of Brexit has been even worse than he expected it to be.

He told LBC: "If you look at a recent report for people who are interested in this by the very accomplished and credible economic think tank called the National Bureau for Economic Research, actually an American one.

"They now calculate that the damage of Brexit might be as great, if not greater than the great financial crash in 2008.

"So that means if you look at our recent history over the last 10, 15 years, we are almost unique as a country in the developed world to have had not just one but two massive economic shocks."

Sir Nick suggested that we should aim over time to rejoin the European Union "in some shape or form".

He added: "We gave the victors a go for a decade. We don't want to lose another decade for the sake of our kids and our grandkids."

Last January, when the country marked five years since Brexit, Mr Farage, one of Brexit’s top cheerleaders, said: “I still 100% believe it was the right thing to do.”

However, Mr Farage admitted he was “disappointed in the way it’s been delivered”.

LBC has contacted Reform UK for comment.