Allowing a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union would be “undemocratic” and could break up the United Kingdom, U.K. Environment Secretary Michael Gove warned Wednesday.
Speaking on the BBC’s Today program this morning, Gove said the U.K. has three options on Brexit. “We can either choose to leave the European Union with a deal; we can leave without a deal; or we can stay in the European Union, either by revoking Article 50 or by having a second referendum, the principal advocates of which want us to stay in.
“I’m very clear. I am opposed to a second referendum. It is a route to frustrate the British people’s original decision. It is undemocratic,” Gove said, adding a second public vote “would be damaging to the United Kingdom, damaging to the integrity of our union. “A second referendum … opens the door to another [independence] referendum in Scotland. I’m afraid that simply having more referenda is not a substitute for having a clear policy”
Gove however said he favors MPs having a vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s repackaged Withdrawal Agreement Bill — which includes a chance for them to vote for a second Brexit referendum — but was noncommittal on whether this would definitely take place in the week of June 3, which is when the government had said the bill would be brought before the House of Commons.
“There’s been a lot of Sturm und Drang, a lot of summer lightning. It’s important for all of us to take a step back and to consider what the options are,” he said “I think that we will reflect over the course of the next few days on how people look at the proposition that has been put forward.”
Initial cross-party and media reaction to May’s “bold” new Brexit deal was damning, and even the prime minister’s aides admit the gambit is a “final roll of the dice” before she is forced from office this summer. After failing to secure a majority in parliament multiple times for the withdrawal deal she agreed with Brussels last November, May is now trying to put the deal into law anyway.