In an opinion piece for The Independent, former cabinet minister Dominic Grieve expressed his support for a second Brexit referendum, insisting that it would present Britons with a final opportunity to decide the UK’s future membership and relationship with the EU.
He described a second referendum as a “sensible way forward,” especially with the government’s internal dispute over its Brexit strategy.
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“I first raised this issue soon after the first referendum, although at the time I saw it as a rather remote possibility. But the further our political crisis deepens the more it seems to me to offer a sensible way forward. Such a referendum presupposes nothing. If the electorate are determined to leave then leave we will,” MP Grieve wrote.
The ex-minister also wrote that pushing on with Brexit without consulting the electorate again could potentially be a calamitous mistake.
“But to carry such change through in chaos in order to discover a short time thereafter that the electorate are unhappy with the outcome would be a massive abdication of responsibility for good governance by both government and parliament.”
The article was published as part of the newspaper’s “Final Say” campaign, which aims to pressure the government into holding another referendum. Other politicians, including Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran and Labour MP Chuka Umunna, are actively involved in The Independent’s campaign.
Ireland’s deputy PM recently said the government should consider extending the deadline for Brexit to give itself more time to negotiate with the EU and reduce the likelihood of a hard Brexit.
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