PM tells Remainers: Forget about 2nd poll
THERESA MAY has told Remainer MPs they will not get a second referendum and instead need to work for a better Brexit.
In her hardest-hitting words yet, the Prime Minister has said rebels will not be able to get another vote and have to finally recognise that “Britain is leaving the EU”.
Her attack on Remainers in her own party, including Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve, follows their failure to help Labour backbencher Yvette Cooper win a vote for MPs to take control of the Brexit agenda.
The PM’s intervention comes as Brexiteers have laid out their demands for compromises from Brussels to make the Withdrawal Agreement acceptable.
Mrs May made it clear that she believes Parliament has come in line with the British people and backed Brexit after last week’s crucial votes on Tuesday.
She said: “I do not have time for those who believe the verdict passed by the British people in 2016 should be overturned before it is even implemented.”
Mocking the MPs who demand a so-called People’s Vote, Mrs May said: “This week the leaders of the campaign for a second referendum had the chance to put their plan before the House of Commons – but they recognised there is no majority in this Parliament to hold another vote. Indeed, I believe there never will be.”
She said: “When the House refused to support the withdrawal agreement, I listened.
“Now it’s time for MPs demanding a second referendum to do writes David Maddox. TORY Remainer MPs have been offered millions of pounds by wealthy pro-EU business figures to form a new party, writes David Maddox.
The revelation has fuelled speculation that centrists in the Labour Party are preparing to join up with Tory rebels and the Lib Dems to form a new party aimed at forcing the UK back into the bloc.
Donors have been queuing up to help start a new political movement, according to one leading Tory MP who has been campaigning for a second referendum.
He said: “I’ve been offered £10million to start a new party but at the moment I’m trying to ensure colleagues hold the line and don’t quit.
“There’s going to be a split at some point because this cannot continue and the party has clearly been taken over by Brexit hardliners.”
Labour moderates, reportedly led by Chuka Umunna and Chris Leslie are
the same – put your efforts behind securing a better Brexit... because the UK is leaving the EU.”
Mrs May also received a boost last night as an Opinium poll gave a damning verdict on Jeremy Corbyn’s attempts to block Brexit. The Tories now have a seven-point lead – up four points on 41 per cent, while Labour fell six points to 34 reportedly leading the charge to form a new party.
It could be launched before July when Sir Vince Cable is due to stand down as leader of the Lib Dems, some commentators have speculated.
It will most likely be made up of Labour MPs who face deselection by Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-Left supporters at the next election.
The news came as the Sunday Express revealed last week that a leading lawyer, Paul Diamond, had been taken on to help Conservative associations recruit more Brexiteers into the party.
A Tory Remainer MP added: “I know of several ministers and MPs who are strong Remainers and want a second referendum but are afraid they will be deselected if they rebel or don’t back Brexit.”
But Robert Perry a senior member of Conservative Grassroots and chairman of the Hornchurch and Upminster Association, said: “It’s a good thing that associations are keeping their MPs in line.”
‘There’s going to be a split’
per cent. Writing for Express online, former cabinet minister Owen Paterson said the EU needs to come back with proposals which remove the Northern Ireland backstop and move towards a free trade deal.”
He said that MPs have given the Government “a firm mandate to return to Brussels, reopen the Withdrawal Agreement”.
Mr Paterson said that any vote to keep the UK in the customs union, as the Labour leadership wants, “would be a clear betrayal of the referendum result”.