Farage's
call for second Brexit vote greeted with glee by remainers
Pro-EU
campaigners back former Ukip leader’s suggestion of second referendum to ‘kill
off’ issue for a generation
Nigel
Farage’s surprise call for Britain to prepare for a second EU referendum has
ignited hopes among anti-Brexit campaigners that both sides of the debate will
back a poll on Theresa May’s final deal.
Rowena
Mason Deputy political editor
Fri 12 Jan
‘18 09.21 GMT First published on Thu 11 Jan ‘18 11.31 GMT
The former Ukip
leader shocked his colleagues on Thursday by suggesting another Brexit vote
should be held, arguing it would lead to a more decisive victory for the leave
campaign and silence remain supporters for a generation.
On Friday,
he said he was calling on the leave side to prepare for a second vote because
of the likelihood that one would be brought about when, as he expected,
parliament rejected the deal eventually struck with the EU.
His
intervention was seized on by those who believe another referendum is the best
way of overturning the result, including the former Liberal Democrat leader
Nick Clegg and the Labour peer Andrew Adonis, as it was seen as a sign that
political pressure is building for a poll on the final deal.
Although
the prime minister has insisted she will not allow another referendum, Farage
said on Friday he had accepted the possibility of one being held.
“Of course
I don’t want one, we won a referendum and that should have been that. But I do
not trust the sheer dishonesty of our political class,” he told BBC Radio 4’s
Today programme.
Farage said
his recent meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, had
convinced him a “decent deal” would not be offered and parliament would reject
it.
“The idea
that, in that circumstance, we’ll just crash out on WTO [World Trade
Organisation] rules, I don’t believe our political class will accept.
“So, I’m
out of denial. I was in denial. I was saying: ‘We’ve won, it’s all over.’ I
have now got myself mentally ready for the possibility – as happened in Denmark
and Ireland and other countries - that they’ll make us vote again and we must
be prepared.”
Despite
Theresa May’s position, the bookmakers Coral and Betfair slashed the odds on
another poll being held before the end of 2019 to 5-1.
Some
suggested it could make it easier for Labour to shift its position to
supporting another referendum on May’s final Brexit deal, joining the Lib Dems,
who have already called for a second poll.
But it
could also fuel divisions within Labour. The party leadership currently
maintains that there is no need for another popular vote – in contrast to some
of its pro-EU backbenchers.
Chuka
Umunna, a former shadow cabinet minister, said Farage was for the “first time
in his life” making a valid point and the British people have “every right to
keep an open mind about Brexit”.
On Friday,
he told Today that new facts had emerged and the costs of the Brexit process
were beginning to crystallise. “Ultimately, the debate in 2016 was
hypothetical. This is now a factual thing,” he said.
The most
natural time for a second EU referendum would be a poll on whether to accept
any deal that May negotiates with Brussels before the date of Brexit in March
2019, or whether the UK should leave without an agreement if she fails to
secure one.
If
parliament was to vote against May’s deal with the EU, it could provoke another
referendum on the issue or a general election in which Brexit was the central
issue.
Recent data
suggests the public is still fairly evenly split on the issue but a poll by
YouGov showed 53% of people would like a final vote on the deal.
Farage
first floated the idea on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff on Thursday: “My mind is
actually changing on all this. What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the
Blairs, the Adonises will never, ever, ever give up. They will go on whingeing
and whining and moaning all the way through this process.
“So maybe,
just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second
referendum on EU membership … I think that if we had a second referendum on EU
membership, we would kill it off for a generation.”
Farage
later backtracked from the notion that he actively wanted another referendum,
but said leave supporters must “face this potential threat” and start
organising for another campaign.
“We must
ready ourselves for the possibility of one last dramatic battle,” he wrote in
the Telegraph.
“It may not
be what we want, but it could be unavoidable. In the next few months, committed
leavers must prepare for a second poll and get ready to start campaigning.”
Farage’s
readiness to accept a second EU referendum quickly became a cause for
celebration among pro-EU campaigners, who hold out hope that public opinion is
turning away from leaving the EU, as a result of its economic risks.
Clegg, the
former deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader, tweeted: “I agree with Nigel.”
Adonis added: “Farage wants a referendum on Mrs May’s Brexit deal. I agree.
Bring it on!”
Mark
Malloch Brown, a peer who chairs the Best for Britain campaign, said another
referendum was “something that the country needs”.
However,
the idea infuriated Farage’s own party and Conservative ministers responsible
for carrying out Brexit, as they have argued relentlessly since the referendum
that the result must be respected.
Leave-supporting
Tory MPs suggested Farage was simply seeking attention at a time when Ukip has
lost its purpose and slumped in the polls. MP Andrew Bridgen said: “The moment
the public voted to leave the EU, and a Conservative government are enacting
that, then unfortunately for Ukip, they are superfluous. I think that’s
what it’s about.”
The prime
minister’s official spokesman said: “We will not be having a second
referendum.”
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