Brexit | May pushes back against second vote report, accuses Blair of boycotting talks

As Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to face lawmakers in Parliament today, she and her team pushed back on reports that cabinet ministers have been working on the possibility of a second referendum on leaving the European Union.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds, David Lidington and Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell denied yesterday preparations for a second Brexit referendum.

May accuses former Prime Minister Tony Blair of ‘undermining’ her Brexit negotiations in Brussels.

Last week, Blair said MPs might back a new vote if “none of the other options work.”

In response to May, he insisted that a new referendum was democratic.

“Far from being anti-democratic it would be the opposite, as indeed many senior figures in her party from past and present have been saying,” Blair said.

In the corridors of the U.K. Parliament, an idea that four months ago seemed laughable is now being seriously discussed. Is another referendum a way out of the Brexit deadlock?

Speaking privately, some ministers raise it unprompted. At a press conference last week, leaders of the smaller opposition parties urged the government to consider it as a contingency worth preparing for.

The argument for a second referendum advanced by one minister was simple: If nothing can get through Parliament – and it looks like nothing can – the question needs to go back to voters.

The Sunday Times reported that David Lidington, effectively May’s deputy, held talks with opposition lawmakers to try to build a cross-party consensus on a new vote. The newspaper also reported that May has discussed the idea of another referendum with her predecessor David Cameron, saying that she’d back a second poll if MPs voted for it.

While campaigners for a second vote have mostly been those who want to reverse the result of the last one and keep Britain inside the EU, that’s not the reason a lot of new supporters are coming round to the idea.

One Cabinet minister said this week he wanted a second referendum on the table to make clear to Brexit supporters in the Conservative Party that the alternative to May’s deal is no Brexit at all.

Even Nigel Farage, former leader of the UKIP party that pushed the 2016 vote, on Friday urged supporters to be ready for another referendum.

Speaking at rally in London, the Press Association quoted Farage as saying: “My message folks tonight is: As much as I don’t want a second referendum, it would be wrong of us on a Leave Means Leave platform not to get ready, not to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.”

Putting pressure on Brexiteers is also the reason there’s more talk of delaying the U.K.’s departure. At the moment, many Brexit-backers are talking openly about running down the clock to March so they can get the hard Brexit they want. Extending the process – which is easier than many appreciate – takes that strategy off the table.

In the past, the assumption about a second referendum is that it would be a disaster for May. But structured right, it could get her out of a hole.

According to The Times, Cabinet Office officials are discussing plans to offer voters a choice between May’s deal and a no-deal Brexit, while also including on the ballot a choice for remaining in the EU. MDT/Agencies