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UK Government Will Never Accept Second Referendum

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has arrived at an EU summit dinner in Austria and urged EU leaders to accept British negotiating stance to get a good Brexit deal.
Sputnik

"There are prominent Labour members like the mayor of London who are now trying to take us back to square one and are backing a second referendum and postponing the Brexit date, the exit day. I want to be absolutely clear: this government will never accept a second referendum. The British people have voted to leave the European Union and we will be leaving on the 29th of March, 2019," UK Prime Minister Theresa May stated.

The Prime Minister has also urged the negotiating parties to accept the so-called Chequers plan.

"I believe this (Chequers) is the right proposal because it maintains frictionless trade. It's the only credible and negotiable plan on the table that delivers no hard border in Northern Ireland and also delivers on the vote of the British people," May told reporters on arrival in Salzburg.

Earlier in the day, UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has urged the Labour party to clarify its stance on the withdrawal from the European Union and noted that the government will not hold a second referendum on the issue after the Labour party pledged to vote against the Brexit agreement, as the Sky News reported.

"I am writing to you to seek urgent clarification on Labour’s Brexit policy, following development over the weekend which suggests your party is moving towards a position of suspending Article 50 and delaying Brexit to hold a second referendum … The government has made clear that we will not hold a second referendum," Raab’s letter to Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, obtained by the media outlet, read.

READ MORE: UK Cabinet to Look at Sky News Call for Party Leaders' Election Debates

UK Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry of the Labour party said Friday that the party would vote against the Brexit deal when it would be proposed by the Conservative government.

PM May’s Chequers Plan Won’t Get Past Parliament – Former UK Brexit Secretary
Earlier in the day, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire told the Sky News channel that the UK government would consider a proposal by the media to make head-to-head election debates between party leaders a permanent fixture.

The official comment came amid Sky News efforts to make TV debates a regular thing in all future general polls and has proposed setting up an independent commission to run them. The initiative has received the support of active and former lawmakers.

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