Why no-deal Brexiteers should back a second referendum – leader comment

Theresa May’s offer of a binding vote in the Commons on a second referendum is a sign she’s starting to realise it’s the only way out.

Theresa May could be slowly coming round to the idea of a second referendum (Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire)

“The biggest problem with Britain today is its politics.”

Finally, Theresa May yesterday found a way to unite the country. The definition of ‘Will of the People’ is a contentious issue, but the Prime Minister’s summation of the ‘Mood of the People’ was spot on.

However, her next words – “we can fix that” – were rather optimistic.

She and her Government have tried, tried and tried again – just like Robert the Bruce’s famous spider – to come up with a Brexit deal that satisfies a majority of MPs and have failed each time.

Ahead of what should be the fourth and final attempt early next month, May has in desperation offered a binding vote in the Commons on a second referendum if MPs agree to her deal.

The indications for May were bleak yesterday, with everyone from hard Brexiteers like Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and some Tories who had voted for the deal previously to Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon signalling their opposition.

But it is a sign that at last May is starting to realise there is only one way to break the deadlock – and that is by putting the issue back to the people. Politicians have recently all too often fallen into the trap of treating ‘the people’ as a monolith, as if we all think the same thing, and also of conflating their own views with those of this mythical nation of sheep.

No-deal Brexiteers seem particularly sure about what ‘the people’ think but, curiously, are also among those most vociferously opposed to actually finding out. Like May, they should start to realise that a second referendum is necessary. It is a considerable stretch to say the 2016 vote showed support for no-deal Brexit, which is a very different prospect to the vision painted by Leave campaigners at the time.

A no-deal Brexit needs its own clear and unequivocal mandate. When faced with the available options, perhaps the British public would vote for it and, if that truly turns out to be the ‘Will of the People’, then despite the severe economic consequences of such a move, that’s what should happen.

However, if Conservative hardliners manage to replace May with one of their own, who then allows the UK to leave the EU in October without a deal and things go anything like as badly wrong as some experts predict, it is likely that many people will feel angry, tricked even. And Britain’s biggest problem will suddenly become much, much worse.