Prime Minister Theresa May is due to tell the House of Commons that a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU would “break faith with the British people.”
Mrs May will also say that it would do “irreparable damage” to the “integrity” of British politics “because it would say to millions who trusted in democracy, that our democracy does not deliver,” according to extracts from her speech released by Number 10 seen by the BBC.
“Let us not break faith with the British people by trying to stage another referendum,” she will tell MPs.
“Another vote which would likely leave us no further forward than the last.
“And another vote which would further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite it,” she will warn.
The planned statement of commitment to not holding a second referendum — an option pushed by Europhiles and Remainers seeking to overturn the June 2016 vote to Leave — came after media reports on Sunday that Mrs May’s closest allies were plotting a second vote.
The Prime Minister’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell was reported to have told five Remainer Cabinet ministers that a second referendum was “the only way out of this”, with May facing certain defeat in the vote on of her Withdrawal Bill in the House of Commons.
De facto deputy prime minister David Lidington was also said to have made back-channel connections with Remain-supporting Labour MPs to form a cross-party “coalition of the willing” to force the rerun.
Downing Street immediately went on damage control, denying that there we any such plans as she pushes on with seeking assurances from Brussels over her deal’s contentious Irish backstop arrangements, which could lock Northern Ireland in regulatory alignment with the EU and threaten the integrity of the British Union.
A senior Conservative source confirmed the rumours, saying: “others in No 10 are aware of what is happening” — while former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith fingered Lidington as one of the “guilty men” of the plot, accusing him of “giving the EU what they want, which is no way out for the UK.”
Mrs May’s allies blitzed the media denying the conspiracy, with education secretary Damian Hinds saying on Sunday: “Government policy couldn’t be clearer. We are here to act on the will of the people clearly expressed in the referendum.”
However, both Hinds and Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox were said to be pushing for a non-binding ‘indicative vote’ in the House of Commons which could include options ranging from a “Norway plus” — European Economic Area and Customs Union membership — to “No Deal”, with Remainers undoubtedly wanting a second referendum option in such a vote.
Former Labour prime minister, Iraq War architect, and rabid europhile Tony Blair weighed in on the debate on Friday, telling Sky News that Mrs May should “switch course” and hold a second referendum.
The Prime Minister criticised Blair for “seek[ing] to undermine… negotiations,” adding that his actions were “an insult to the office he once held and the people he once served.”
Last week, May cancelled the House of Commons vote on the Brexit deal, which has now been tabled for January 14th.
The Times reports that whips have put MPs on ‘high alert’ until Thursday, when the House rises for Christmas, should Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn put forward a vote of confidence in the government.
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