Brexit: 'Second referendum needed to break commons impasse'

By The Newsroom
Published 8th Sep 2018, 15:29 BST
Updated 8th Sep 2018, 15:30 BST
Picture credit: Jack Taylor/GettyPicture credit: Jack Taylor/Getty
Picture credit: Jack Taylor/Getty
A former defence minister has added his support to an increasing number of high-profile voices calling for the vote to be revisited.

Conservative MP Guto Bebb, who quit as a defence minister in July in protest at Theresa May's concessions to Tory Brexiteers, acknowledged that many of his colleagues viewed the prospect of another vote with "abject horror" but it was the only way to resolve the issue.

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The Prime Minister's Chequers plan fell "far short" of the common market some Leave voters wanted and Brexit risked causing damage to the livelihoods of people across the country, he said.

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Mrs May has rejected calls for a so-called People's Vote and Brexiteers have argued that another referendum would be an attempt to undermine the democratic decision made by 17.4 million Britons in 2016.

However, Mr Bebb told BBC Radio 4's Today that it would be "undemocratic" not to offer the public a say once it was known what the shape of the Brexit agreement secured by the Prime Minister looked like.

Responding to suggestions that another vote would harm trust in politics, he said the economic hit from Brexit would be "substantial" and "the people of this country who will suffer the damage as a result will not forgive politicians who have actually glibly said that we would be alright on the night".