Former minister calls for new Brexit vote
Previous Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders support the idea of another referendum on EU exit
After two years of government squabbling and parliamentary rifts on Brexit, support is growing for the idea that only another referendum can resolve Britain’s future outside the EU.
After two years of government squabbling and parliamentary rifts on Brexit, support is growing for the idea that only another referendum can resolve Britain’s future outside the EU.
Former education minister Justine Greening on Monday became one of the most highprofile backers of a so-called people’s vote, which is slowly picking up supporters across the political divide.
“The only solution is to take the final Brexit decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians, away from the backroom deals, and give it back to the people,” the Conservative MP wrote in The Times.
She spoke out after Prime Minister Theresa May announced she had finally persuaded her divided cabinet to agree on a plan for future ties with the EU, only for it to collapse spectacularly.
Two top ministers resigned, sparking threats of rebellion among her Eurosceptic MPs and raising concerns among some European diplomats that Britain will never be able to agree any deal with the EU.
At the weekend former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, a fervent pro-European, repeated his call for a new vote, saying there was no majority in the House of Commons for May’s Brexit plan or any other.
“We are stuck. In any rational world this would go back to the people for resolution,” he said.
Former Conservative prime minister John Major, former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and former Labour foreign minister David Miliband also support a second Brexit referendum.
They all opposed Brexit, and for many supporters the main appeal of a new vote — and the reason Eurosceptics oppose it — is the possibility that it could reverse the 2016 decision to leave the EU.
This would be technically difficult but some European leaders, notably EU president Donald Tusk, have been making encouraging noises.
Earlier in 2018, nine proEuropean campaign groups moved into shared office space near parliament and in April launched a joint campaign for a people’s vote.
It has co-ordinated efforts for a public vote in the event that MPs reject the final Brexit deal, which May hopes to agree with the EU by October.
The group proposes two options on the ballot paper — accepting May’s plan, or staying in the bloc.
Blair and Greening suggest a third option of walking away without any agreement at all.
May has repeatedly rejected the idea and her spokesman confirmed this on Monday, saying “under no circumstances” would there be another vote.
The main opposition Labour party, which is deeply divided on Brexit, has refused to rule anything out. But public opinion is slowly shifting away from Brexit and has been moving towards a second referendum.
Even some of those who oppose the idea have begun warning that it might be a possibility as the government veers from one crisis to the next.
Former Conservative leader William Hague warned Brexit hardliners in his party last week it could be an option if they rebel against May’s Brexit deal.
“There is a whole range of scenarios in which they get no Brexit, or an indefinitely delayed Brexit, or a change of government or a second referendum,” he told BBC radio.
Even Nigel Farage, the founder of the UK Independence Party, who helped secure the Brexit vote, mooted the idea earlier in 2018. He suggested it would silence the “whingeing” of pro-Europeans, before later backtracking.