May gives second Brex vote the boot

‘It would be a gross betrayal of democracy’

THERESA May today rules out a second EU referendum in her strongest terms yet.

The PM has been rattled by the success of the People’s Vote crusade, led by former shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna, campaigning to reverse Brexit.

Remainer MPs behind the pressure group say voters should have another say on whether to leave the EU.

But as MPs return this week from Parliament’s long summer holiday, Mrs May says: “I will not give in to those who want to reopen the whole question with a second referendum.”

She says voters made their decision in 2016 by 52 to 48 per cent and that must be the end of it.

“They trusted that their vote would count, that after years of feeling ignored by politics, their voices would be heard,” she says. “To ask the question all over again would be a gross betrayal of our democracy – and a betrayal of that trust.”

Labour is divided on the issue, but the party’s official position is not to rule out a second referendum.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn will come under pressure at this month’s party conference in Liverpool to change that to Labour support for the People’s Vote.

A petition demanding a second referendum had gathered nearly 294,000 signatures by last night.

Mrs May is pinning her hopes on the EU backing the negotiated settlement she hammered out with Cabinet ministers at Chequers two months ago. That caused the resignations of leading Brexiteers Boris Johnson and David Davis. If Mrs May ends up with a bad deal or no deal, then pressure will grow for another vote on leaving.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab last week admitted that the October deadline for a Brexit deal with the EU might slip.

KICKING BACK The PM