May attacks second Brexit referendum as a breach of trust Theresa May

UK Prime Minister Theresa May planned to attack supporters of a second Brexit referendum yesterday as she explains to Parliament why European Union leaders rebuffed her attempt to make her divorce deal more attractive to lawmakers.

May, who accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair of “undermining” her negotiations by pushing for a second vote, will say it would be a catastrophic breach of trust.

David Lidington, May’s effective deputy, and Chief-of-Staff Gavin Barwell denied supporting another plebiscite on Sunday after newspaper reports that they’d had talks on the issue.

Another referendum “would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics, because it would say to millions who trusted in democracy, that our democracy does not deliver,” May will say, according to extracts of her planned statement to Parliament released by her office.

It “would further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite it.”

Speculation has intensified about a second referendum on leaving the EU since May withdrew a House of Commons vote on her deal with the bloc last week after it became clear it was headed for defeat.

She then survived a bid by her own lawmakers to unseat her as leader of the Conservative Party, and headed to Brussels on Thursday to seek adjustments that would sweeten the deal.

Britain leaves the 28 nation bloc on March 29 and if May can’t find a plan that Parliament will accept, the UK will be on course to crash out of the EU without a deal to cushion the blow.

British authorities predict the resulting economic damage could include a 25 percent fall in the value of the pound and a 30percent crash in home prices.

Contingency planning for a “no-deal” Brexit has been stepped up, but May’s office dismissed as “categorically untrue” a report in the Sunday Times that people would be warned not to book holidays after March.

The idea of a second referendum is gaining traction among those who hope it would stop the UK leaving the bloc, and those who see it as a threat that will bring Brexiteers behind May’s plan.

One Cabinet member said he wants it on the table to convince them that no Brexit at all is a real possibility if they don’t back the prime minister.

“It is highly significant that Downing Street felt it had to issue these advance extracts of her statement to the House of Commons,” former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said in a statement. “Officials know the prospect of a People’s Vote is being discussed not just in Westminster but in the corridors of Whitehall too.”

Barwell posted on Twitter that “I am not planning a 2nd referendum with political opponents or anyone else” after he was named in a report in the Sunday Times.

Lidington tweeted that he has made “plain” his opposition to a repeat vote, and posted an extract from a speech in which he said it would threaten faith in democracy.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox also ruled out a second referendum, but said he would be willing to have lawmakers play a greater role in sifting though alternatives to May’s deal if it’s unable to win enough votes in Parliament.

—Fin24.

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