Millionaire Brexiteer donor ready to fund Leave campaign AGAIN if second vote goes ahead
A BREXITEER tycoon is ready to dip into his pockets again after donating £35,000 in 2016 to back Leave activists.
May warns a second referendum would lead to further division
Jeremy Woolridge has said he is readying and willing to spend more money to fund another Brexit campaign if a second vote was held. He told The Times: “I’m sure the Government will rig the rules so it will be even more difficult for people like me and company to back Vote Leave II - but that won’t necessarily stop us." He has previously said that another European referendum would be a “travesty of our democracy”.
The 74-year-old admitted that a second referendum would be “the worst thing in the world”, but he hinted at being prepared to fund even a third referendum if it came down to it.
He said: “Maybe we should say best of three.”
Mr Woolridge’s family fortune is estimated to be £150million and his family business, Wedge Group Galvanizing, dates back 150 years.
However, other well-known donors do not even want to contemplate the idea of another referendum.
The founder of the Wetherspoon chain, who spent £212,000 on the Brexit campaign, said it wasn’t “honourable to even speculate it”.
Tim Martin said: “It’s impossible to get involved in the conversation because no one suggested there should be a second referendum.”
He added that it would also unleash “major constitutional issues”.
Supporters of a second referendum think it could break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit.
Brexit is a lifeboat thrown off the EU Titanic blasts expert
Dozens of business editors wrote a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May and Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn to allow for a second vote and to stop wasting “any more time on fantasies”.
Mr Woolridge predicts a second vote would just delay the process and ruin any relationship with Brussels.
He said: “It would be a running, festering sore and we’ll all hate them by the end of it.
“If you want to have civilised relationships with Europe in the future, the best thing is to have a clean break.”