News   /   Politics

UK government denies making plans for second Brexit referendum

In this file photo taken on November 22, 2018, pro-EU, anti-Brexit demonstrators hold placards calling for a "People's Vote" as they protest outside the Houses of Parliament in central London. (AFP photo)

The British government has denied claims in the media that it is drawing up contingency plans for holding a second referendum on the country’s withdrawal from the European Union.

A senior member of UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet said on Sunday that the government was solely working to deliver on the results of the 2016 Brexit referendum in which around 52 percent of the people in Britain voted for their country to leave the EU after more than 40 years.

“Government policy couldn’t be clearer. We are here to act on the will of the people clearly expressed in the referendum,” said education secretary Damian Hinds, adding, “A second referendum would be divisive. We had the people’s vote, we had the referendum, and now we’ve got to get on with implementing it.

May attacks Blair

Also on Sunday, May ruled out the possibility of holding a fresh vote on Brexit as she attacked former prime minister Tony Blair for promoting the idea.

“There are too many people who want to subvert the process for their own political interests rather than acting in the national interest,” May said in a statement.

She said Blair’s trip to Brussels on Friday to campaign for a second Brexit referendum was “an insult to the office he once held and the people he once served.”

Calls for a second Brexit vote comes amid growing uncertainty over the future of Brexit. That uncertainty deepened last week when May went to the parliament and postponed a decisive vote on her draft withdrawal agreement with the EU.

Many expect that May would eventually fail to gain parliament’s approval for her deal and Britain would be forced to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 without a binding agreement that could outline future relations with the bloc.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku