Khan calls for second referendum
London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for another referendum on Britain’s EU membership, saying the prime minister’s handling of Brexit negotiations has become “mired in confusion and deadlock” and is leading the country down a damaging path.
Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29. But with Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plans still not accepted, some MPs, as well as union and business leaders, are arguing for people to have a final say on any deal with Brussels.
May has repeatedly ruled out a second referendum. She says MPs will get to vote on whether to accept any final deal.
The backing of Khan, a member of the Labour party, for a second referendum will put more pressure on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to change his opposition to the idea when the party meets for its annual conference in a week.
A second referendum, which has been dubbed a “people’s vote” by its proponents, is not Labour party policy, although finance spokesperson John McDonnell said in August that no option should be off the table.
Khan said Britain is now facing either a bad deal or a no-deal Brexit, both of which are “incredibly risky”.
Writing in Sunday’s Observer newspaper, he blamed the government’s handling of the negotiations and said the threat to living standards, the economy and jobs is too great for voters not to have a say.
“The government’s abject failure — and the huge risk we face of a bad deal or a no-deal Brexit — means that giving people a fresh say is now the right — and only — approach left for our country,” he said.
Labour’s international trade spokesperson, Barry Gardiner, said a second referendum will throw the Conservative government a lifeline.
Khan said that the “sensible thing” will be for the prime minister to call a general election if she does not have support for any Brexit deal.
“[But] if there’s not going to be a general election, the next best thing is for the British public to have a say on the outcome of the negotiations,” he said.
Michael Gove, environment minister and a leading figure in the leave campaign, said Khan wants to frustrate the vote.
“People voted clearly — 17.4-million people voted to leave the European Union — and Sadiq is essentially saying ‘Stop, let’s delay that whole process, let’s throw it into chaos’ and I think that would be a profound mistake,” he said.
May said on Sunday that she is focused on her plan for a relationship with the EU based on a common rulebook for all goods and that she is “a little bit irritated” by constant speculation about her position.
“This debate is not about my future; this debate is about the future of the people of the UK and the future of the United Kingdom,” she said.