Second Brexit referendum 'would solve nothing' - MP

Telford MP Lucy Allan said if the Withdrawal Agreement could not get through parliament, then no deal was the only option.

Her comments come after two senior Labour frontbenchers threw their weight behind calls for a second referendum.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer warned it was “impossible” to see how an agreement between the Conservatives and his party could clear the Commons unless it guaranteed the deal would be put back to the public for a “confirmatory vote”.

And Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson said he thought the way out of the impasse was a “confirmatory ballot” on Theresa May’s agreement, saying it would be “difficult” for his party to assist in the UK’s exit from the EU without another referendum.

However, Ms Allan said: “I am wholly opposed to a second referendum as it would leave the country in protracted limbo, solve nothing and reopen the divisions of the 2016 referendum.

“We need to leave the EU as soon as possible and Parliament has agreed that. If the Withdrawal Agreement cannot get through Parliament then the only option is to leave on WTO terms and move forward with building our future relationship with Europe.”

Ms Allan joins fellow Shropshire MPs in opposing a second referendum.

'Betrayal'

Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury said: “A fresh referendum would be a betrayal of the referendum process. It would also lead to a feeling of no confidence in having future referendums. It would be the worst possible outcome in regards to the cohesion of our nation’s stability and it would instigate a huge amount of turmoil, instability and uncertainty.

“Would it be like the men’s final at Wimbledon with the best of five? The people are calling for a new one have no idea of the serious consequences that it could have.

“We have to pull out of cross-party discussions with Labour. We cannot accept another referendum, we have to leave the European Union.

“It is very important that people understand who it is that is blocking this.”

Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, said: “I am opposed to a second referendum. I have said that we need to respect the result of the first one and we do not need a second.”

Glyn Davies, MP for Montgomery, said: “I am implacably opposed to a re-run of the EU referendum.

“It would take at least a year to run and would extend uncertainty and division, when our economy, our politics and our nation desperately need the opposite. And it would utterly destroy what confidence the British people have in democracy if politicians tell the people they got it wrong in 2016, and must vote again until they get it ‘right’.

“A second EU referendum is an appalling prospect being driven by those who do not accept the People’s Vote in 2016 and are doing everything they can to reverse it.”