Second Brexit referendum could begin healing process says former Shropshire MP

Peter Bradley, former Labour MP for The Wrekin, also said the UK should seek an extension long enough to hold a referendum campaign for up to nine months.

Mr Bradley said it was important to learn from the mistakes of the 2016 referendum campaign.

"If we're foolish enough to repeat the exercise of 2016, we may pay a high price," said Mr Bradley, who held the seat from 1997 to 2005.

"Almost certainly we will exacerbate and entrench the divisions and grievances it fomented and the risk that they will spill over into civil unrest cannot be ignored."

But he said a well-designed and managed referendum could bring people together in open and honest debate, and would ideally be conducted through people engaging face to face.

"This could help us not only reach a settled conclusion but also begin the healing process we so urgently need," he said.

Mr Bradley accused former prime minister David Cameron of 'blundering' into the 2016 poll by not seeking the advice of the Irish government first.

Serious

"Ireland has held 38 referendums since 1937, most recently on the highly sensitive issues of same sex marriage, abortion, blasphemy and divorce," he said,

"New Zealand has had eight since 1993, Switzerland held 10 at federal level last year alone. They know how to run them. Our disastrous experiment was an object lesson in how not to."

Mr Bradley said a genuinely democratic process would take a considerable amount of time.

"We will need at least six months, perhaps nine, to prepare for a meaningful referendum," he said, adding that he believed the EU would agree to a lengthy extension if it was clear that the time would be used to resolve the matter.

"If Parliament can show it's serious about securing a popular and implementable mandate, there's no reason why our infinitely patient partners would not grant the necessary extension. They want closure almost as much as we do."

Mr Bradley said a second referendum should also include the setting up of an independent referendum commission and a citizen's assembly to ensure that the campaign is conducted in a fair manner. This would include the power to intervene in the event of any misleading or inaccurate information.

He said there was also a strong argument for the voting age to reduced to 16.