Second Brexit referendum: what would be on the ballot paper?

Theresa May’s decision to delay the meaningful vote on her controversial Brexit deal has heightened speculation about the possibility of a second referendum.

Announcing the postponement in the Commons yesterday, the prime minister repeatedly stressed her opposition to holding another vote, arguing that the British public have already had their say. However, an increasing number of ministers do not agree.

Tobias Ellwood, a defence minister, tweeted last week that the mandate of the 2016 referendum “will begin to date” and “will eventually no longer represent a reflection of current intent”.

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Meanwhile, a series of ministers have quit in protest against May’s Brexit deal. Last month Sam Gyimah stepped down as universities minister, and Jo Johnson quit as transport minister, with both calling for a second vote on Brexit.

Labour’s own carefully crafted policy on the issue, finally decided at the party conference, also includes the option of a “public vote” if it were not possible to force a general election.

As such, ministers believe that a second referendum - along with a vote against a no-deal Brexit - “is the option most likely to win both official Labour backing and enough Tories to pass through the Commons”, says HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.

Many MPs “are torn between their duty to do what they believe is right for the country and the political imperative to follow the ‘will of the people’”, adds The Times’s Rachel Sylvester. As one minister told her: “The referendum has not added to democracy, it’s introduced a new conflict of legitimacy.”

“If this is the real cause of the current political deadlock then the logical way out is another popular vote,” Sylvester concludes.

So what would be on the ballot?

According to reports, the PM’s de-facto deputy, David Lidington, and Justice Secretary David Gauke have been in talks with Labour politicians to find out if there is support for a second vote.

Allies of the pair told The Sunday Times that most MPs are likely to get behind a second Brexit referendum. Indeed, so great is their confidence that civil servants have reportedly war-gamed two versions of a new vote.

The first would feature a choice between May’s deal and Remain. The second “would see voters asked to choose between Leave and Remain, with a second question asking them, in the event of a Leave win, whether they prefer the existing deal or a no-deal departure on World Trade Organization terms”, says the newspaper.

But in an article for The Daily Telegraph, Trade Secretary Liam Fox writes that a second referendum would now require an extension of Article 50 - and that the Government would not countenance such a move for a vote offering the “status quo” option of remaining in the EU.

Hinting that any future referendum could only be between May’s deal and a no-deal Brexit, Fox writes: “For those who want another referendum, let us be very clear: the one thing that will not be on offer in any further referendum, just as it was not in the last one, is the status quo, inside the European Union.”