Theresa May has dashed any hopes of a second Brexit referendum, saying instead that she wants to “build trust in politicians” by “delivering” on the result of the 2016 vote to leave the European Union. A five-day parliamentary debate on the PM’s EU withdrawal plan is currently in its third day.
It follows a promise made by Owen Smith, a Labour MP challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s leadership, that the party would abstain from voting to invoke Article 50 until the Conservatives agreed to ask the British public for approval of any final Brexit deal.
While campaigning in Leeds, the Prime Minister dismissed the possibility that voters would be influenced by the possibility of another referendum while speaking to businesses and workers.
Despite the Liberal Democrats’ demand for a vote on any prospective Brexit deal, she said politicians must “respect” the decision to leave, which was supported by 17.4 million people, even if many of those people may well have since changed their minds after getting the full story.
Ms. May has been quoted as saying, “I take a very simple view on Brexit—we had a referendum, Parliament collectively said ‘this was a choice of the British people’. She added that they gave people a chance to decide for themselves, and they chose Brexit. Theresa May believes that if people are to trust politicians, those politicians must recognise and fulfil that trust. That means sticking to the results of the vote and going ahead with Brexit, come what may.