Divisions will only worsen under a hate-fuelled, vicious Brexit. Giving the people a Final Say could stop that

The whining right never stopped complaining about the European project after the first referendum in 1975, more than 40 years before our second national vote, in 2016. So, as a proud British-European, I won’t stop fighting for us to be leaders in our continent, as opposed to the little Englanders Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage want us to be.

I will always campaign for us to ensure the British people have their say on whatever Brexit deal Theresa May gets. I’m for us having a realistic, informed say on the deal, and for us to remain – or return – to Europe so we can ensure jobs are not disappearing off to the continent. Doing so will mean we can come together and make Europe work better for everyone.

I’ve said this before, but this could well be the last century on Earth for humanity, and I’m not joking.

If we don’t learn to live together and work together in some shape or form – all of us – then hate will triumph and we’ll wipe ourselves off this planet. We’ve had the means to do it for some time now, and we must reject the politics of fear and hate encouraged by the likes of Donald Trump, Johnson and Farage, that will only make such an outcome more likely.

I’ve always been positive about Europe. The European Union was established to ensure we never had another world war. The First World War was “the war to end all wars”, yet right wing politics dragged us into the Second World War, with its crimes against humanity and more than 50 million dead.

Every year that I can, I perform for charity in Caen, Normandy: three shows in three hours, in German, French and English, on the anniversary of D-Day, as a mark of respect and as a reminder that only by coming together can we stop this happening again.

Europe for me is more than cheap air fares, the Single Market or Customs Union, and the jobs that such arrangements encourage, as important as they are to Brits. It is an idea, a set of values we share with fellow human beings: that we must always come together to work – and play, and hope – rather than live in suspicion and hate.

Humanity cannot go forwards if we are running backwards – and Brexit and “Brexhate” are backwards. The first referendum, on remaining in Europe, was won by 66 per cent to 34 per cent in 1975. The whining right went on for 40 years and got it down to 52 per cent to 48 per cent in the second referendum, in 2016. If the first vote wasn’t a mandate to be followed, then the second one certainly isn’t. We must carry on fighting for a proud future for our country. The second referendum was not the end, it was just one political battle.

Of course the European Union is not perfect, but in the second referendum the politics of fear was encouraged, and false promises were made by Farage and Johnson, the latter infamously promising £350m per week for the NHS. Farage stoked fear then walked away after the result, openly linking himself to Trump, which says it all. Farage himself said if the result was 48-52 the other way, ”we must fight on, and we will”.

Brexit is too big a deal for the British people not to have a proper, informed vote. If Theresa May can’t keep her cabinet together how will she pull together a Brexit deal that puts us in a better economic situation than we already have, when we can trade without tariffs and travel without visas? Hard right Tories want a disastrous, hard, vicious Brexit.

In the Labour Party, where I’m standing to be re-elected to Labour’s national executive committee at the moment, members across the party want more say on our Brexit position at conference this year. Eight out of 10 members want the party to support an informed vote on Brexit. I’ll continue to be a strong voice on the NEC for Europe, and for members to have their say.

As in 1975 and 2016, a third referendum – a Final Say on the Brexit terms now offered – is inevitable. A hard, vicious Brexit has no mandate, and never has. I will fight against the hate and division Brexit has spawned. Brits don’t quit, but we just had a referendum where the right wing encouraged the opposite. People were duped. We shouldn’t have quit. I know we shouldn’t leave. We should let people have a proper say, with an option – now people understand the nightmare of Brexit – to remain and fight for a more positive, better Europe.

Winston Churchill had a dream of a Europe of united countries. He had to fight the extreme right to try and make it happen back in the 1940s, as we have to fight them now to try and make it happen again. He never stopped fighting back then and we’ll never stop fighting now.

There has been a lot of talk by politicians about Brexit. The people should have their proper say now they know the stakes.

Eddie Izzard is an actor and performer and is standing for re-election to the Labour Party’s national executive committee