Second referendum justified because opinions have changed, Alliance’s Farry tells NI Affairs Committee

PUSHING ahead with Brexit while knowing that public opinion has swung towards Remain would be a tragedy, MPs have been told.

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the “different context” facing the electorate three years on from the 2016 referendum justified another vote.

Mr Farry said that while there was no guarantee Remain would win a people’s vote, polls demonstrated there was a majority in favour of staying in the EU.

However, UUP MLA Steve Aiken warned against a second vote, telling committee members the move would be “divisive”.

The politicians were giving evidence to the committee as part of its examination of the contentious border backstop mechanism detailed in the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Mr Farry warned that a hard border would be “next to impossible” to manage.

He said an opportunity for another vote should be taken but accepted that “window may have closed” in light of developments at Westminster and the prospect of a short Brexit extension that would not provide sufficient time for a referendum.

Mr Aiken cautioned against a second vote. “Let’s be fundamentally clear, a second referendum would be the most divisive thing possible, and I think to even bring the concept of a second referendum at the moment would fundamentally undermine what we are trying to do and get any semblance of normality going ahead in Northern Ireland,” he said.

He also questioned the DUP’s influence on the UK Government and asked whether the party had been “asleep at the wheel” when the mechanism was inserted into the text.