Justine Greening calls for second Brexit referendum

Former education secretary Justine Greening has publicly called for a second referendum on whether the UK should leave the EU, dealing Theresa May’s Brexit plan yet another serious blow.

Writing in The Times, Greening says that the plan brokered at a recent meeting at Chequers is not a “workable compromise”, labelling the deal “a fudge that I can’t support”, and “the worst of both worlds”.

“We’ll be dragging Remain voters out of the EU for a deal that means still complying with many EU rules, but now with no say on shaping them. It’s not what they want, and on top of that when they hear that Leave voters are unhappy, they ask, ‘What's the point?’” Greening said.

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The BBC says that Greening, one of the most senior conservatives to do so, is advocating for a new referendum that would include three options for voters, and should “offer a first and second preference vote so that a consensus can be reached”.

Greening’s call for a second referendum follows similar arguments from former prime minister Tony Blair, who writes that a “half in / half out” solution “won’t work, won’t end the argument and will simply mean a confused outcome in which we continue to abide by Europe’s rules whilst losing our say over them”.