New Brexit referendum

“I’ll do everything I can to prevent her from finishing the job David Cameron so recklessly started. Our children, who will have to live with the consequences of a catastrophic Brexit long after Theresa May’s time, deserve nothing less.”

Mr Doughty argued for co-operation across the parties: “I am proud to join Wales For Europe today to oppose the reckless, dangerous and chaotic approach of this government to Brexit. We must stand together across party lines against a group of ideological extremists who would happily drive Wales and Britain off a cliff edge with no heed for the consequences.”

Joe Boyle, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Cardiff council, said the tide was turning against Brexit. Latest polls show that more that 47% now think Britain got it wrong, while only 42% think the decision is still the right one.

“Those of us who want to stay part of the EU must send a positive message, a message that celebrates the successes and the cultural openness and the decades of peace the EU has delivered,” he said.

Geraint Talfan Davies, a member of Wales For Europe’s executive committee, said the biggest threat facing those who wished to remain in Europe was a sense of fatalism – “that nothing could be done”.

“But Brexit is not inevitable, because no nation in its right mind would give any government, and certainly not this dysfunctional government, a blank cheque. The country has a right to an opportunity to change its mind,” he said.

“People turned out today because they are not prepared to have our country driven off a cliff, certainly not in a car where the driver and the even crazier back-seat drivers are fighting over the wheel.

“We all feel the pain of those parts of Wales that voted to Leave. We sympathise with their anger. But don’t tell me that the people of Blaenau Gwent believe in Boris Johnson, or that the people of Merthyr believe in Theresa May or the people of Rhymney believe in John Redwood.”