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Former PM Tony Blair sets out his case for second referendum on Brexit

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has set out his case for a second referendum on Brexit.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Mr Blair said the British public should have the “final say” on the final terms of any deal because those who voted Leave would have voted for different “versions” of Brexit.

He said: “If there are these different versions of Brexit with completely different consequences and there are people who voted Leave but voted for these different versions of Brexit, how can we say that there’s a mandate only for one form of Brexit?”

<em>Referendum – Tony Blair has set out the case for a second referendum (Pictures: PA)</em>
Referendum – Tony Blair has set out the case for a second referendum (Pictures: PA)

That, he said, was his reason for suggesting that the argument couldn’t simply be ended on “one day in June 2016”.

He added: “Any intelligent debate in the country woudl ay well with all these different options let’s see if we can reach an agreement in Parliament but if we can’t then the sensible thing is since this was originally mandated by the people to go down the path of negotiating Brexit they should at least have a final say once we see the final terms as to whether this deal is the one we want and prefer it to what we have now.”

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Asked if a second referendum could create “continual political turmoil” and lead to more future votes, the former Labour leader disagreed.

“Once you have a proposition for what Brexit really does mean and we set that against membership of the EU, you have a proper choice. You have what we have and what we might have.

“And if frankly in those circumstances people choose to continue with Brexit because in any terms that’s what they want then frankly people like me would have to accept that’s it.”