Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Thom Yorke says Theresa May's use of EU citizens as 'bargaining tool' compares to 'early days of the Third Reich'

Radiohead frontman has been a vocal critic of the prime minister's handling of Brexit

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Friday 08 February 2019 12:59 GMT
Comments
Countdown to Brexit: How many days left until Britain leaves the EU?

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Thom Yorke has lashed out at Theresa May for the “chaos” and “suffering” she is causing in the UK over Brexit.

The Radiohead frontman posted an impassioned message on Twitter that accused her of facilitating a hostile environment towards refugees, and claimed she is using “the lives of millions of Europeans as a bargaining tool”.

“Nobody voted for you to threaten chaos upon this land in myriad form in order to intimidate its citizens and parliament,”he wrote.

“Nobody voted for you to bring into question the lives of millions of Europeans as a bargaining tool, causing immense distress and suffering, an action worthy of the early days of the Third Reich.”

“Nobody voted for you to drive this red bus over a cliff with the passengers screaming in the back. None of this has been an expression of the democracy you have been claiming to uphold. Fear is not a weapon to be used by a UK Prime Minister in the 21st Century. Stop the bus… now.”

Radiohead are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March. Yorke will not attend due to work committments, and told Variety that the band "don't quite understand" what the honour means.

“We don’t want to offend anyone. We just think that we just don’t quite understand it," he said. "We’ve had it explained to us, so it’s cool,” he said. “But we don’t really understand it as English people.

“I think our problem is essentially that every awards ceremony in the UK stinks. We grew up with the Brit [Awards], which is like this sort of drunken car crash that you don’t want to get involved with. So, yeah, we don’t really know what to make of it.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in