People’s Vote demands final Brexit referendum

An anti-brexit campaign demanding a referendum on the final deal has been launched.

People’s Vote, a cross-party coalition of MPS, businessmen and even Sir Patrick Stewart, the Star Trek actor, was unveiled at a London rally yesterday. The launch attracted support from the Conservatives’ Anna Soubry, Labour’s Chuka Umunna, Liberal Democrat’s Layla Moran and Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s only MP. Sir Patrick said he backed People’s Vote because “our country’s future is at stake and we will not stand idly by”.

Anew pressure group called People’s Vote has been launched to secure another referendum on the final Brexit deal later this year. The title of the organisation begs the question of what the backers thought of the plebiscite in June 2016. Was that not a people’s vote? Seemingly not, because it came up with the “wrong” answer.

The group is headed by the usual suspects at Westminster, like Anna Soubry, the Conservative MP, and Labour’s Chukka Umunna. But they are in a minority. This does not presage a sea-change of opinion in the Commons, where MPS voted by an overwhelming majority last year to trigger the process to leave the EU. Ironically, many of those who supported court action to ensure that the decision to trigger Article 50 was a matter for Parliament now wish to take the final decision away from MPS and hand it back to the voters.

Th group denies seeking to reverse Brexit. But when he was asked what would happen if the referendum rejected a final deal, Sir Patrick Stewart, the actor spearheading the move, said the UK would in that event stay in the EU. Others point out that we could leave without a deal, which presumably is not what the campaigners seek.

It is not true, as Sir Patrick contended on the BBC’S Andrew Marr show, that the country was unaware of the possible negative consequences of leaving. The entire Remain campaign was built on warning of the dire consequences of Brexit.

The 2016 referendum divided the country; but notwithstanding the narrowness of the outcome, it was still decisively in favour of leaving. How could another referendum help matters? It would be even more divisive and if it resulted in the UK staying in the EU it would be regarded by millions as a democratic abomination.