Tory peer demolishes second referendum bid with THIS crucial point about 2016 vote
LORD Finkelstein made a brilliant point about the 2016 referendum on Brexit, dismantling calls for a second vote, while adding that it would likely “produce an outcome more divisive than the first”.
Brexit: Lord reveals how Leave would have won 'heavy victory'
If people knew about the possibility of a second referendum during the 2016 vote on Brexit then the Leave campaign would have won a “heavy” victory, believes Lord Finkelstein.
Speaking today in the House of Lords, he said: “If during the European referendum we had said there was going to be a second chance to vote it would have changed the result profoundly.
“Leave would have won a heavy victory, and would’ve established a national consensus behind Brexit.
“Any second vote would have started in a fundamentally different place, but during all the debates in Parliament, no-one suggested two votes, no-one proposed a second referendum.”
The former executive editor of The Times added: “A second referendum might easily be much more divisive than the first. It will also very likely produce an outcome that reminds disputed.
“Let us be clear that this so-called ‘People’s Vote’ if it ever took place, would indeed be a second referendum.
“The idea at Labour conference that this might be a referendum without a Remain option was obviously ridiculous.
“Mr Corbyn appeared to be suggesting we might be offered two options in such a referendum, both of which he was against.”
The Lord’s comments come after Blair, Heseltine and Clegg chose a host of European newspapers to demand a second Brexit referendum.
They took a double swipe at Brexit supporters by saying they were either “naive optimists” or “cynical pessimists”.
Mr Clegg joined calls for a second referendum at the end of the negotiations which he claimed would be the “first vote on the real facts” of Brexit.
The self-styled ‘People’s Vote’ campaign, which is backed by some Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs, is campaigning for a second referendum on whatever deal Theresa May negotiates.
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The three anti-Brexit campaigners claimed in a joint article that "Brexiteers continue to live in a fantasy land of denial".
They added: “Regardless of what path the UK takes in the coming weeks, there can be no denying that a strong European Union will remain in the UK’s interests.
"Its ability to bring such a diverse group of states together and bind them under law and in support of human rights, free markets and free trade is a magnificent achievement and one that should never be sold short or under-valued.
"As leaders from different political traditions in Britain we have disagreed about much in the past, but what we have in common- our support for democracy, the rule of law, free expression and free trade - are also fundamental European values and they are all worth defending."