Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said he would abandon a second referendum to “go on holiday” if it became a choice between Theresa May’s Brexit deal and remaining part of the EU.
Farage, who fronted the Leave campaign throughout the 2016 referendum, said Remain should not be on the ballot paper at all if a second vote were to be held.
It comes after shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry was among leading Labour MPs to hit out at claims from a Jeremy Corbyn adviser that she “misspoke” when she set out the party’s policy on a public vote.
“Pretty hard to misspeak identically in 10 interviews, but for clarity: If Theresa May won’t accept our deal, then the public must decide: do we accept whatever deal she gets through, or do we Remain? Got it?,” she tweeted.
Asked by Sky’s Adam Boulton whether he resists the idea of a second referendum, Farage said: “I think we’d win it. I tell you what I do resist, the very idea that Emily Thornberry is putting forward, that the referendum would be between remain, and Mrs May’s deal which is Brexit in name only.”
He added: “I have to tell you, Adam, in those circumstances I wouldn’t campaign, and I wouldn’t vote. Because it wouldn’t offer me Brexit.
“You have to have a certain level of turnout for a referendum to be valid. And...honestly, if we’re offered Brexit in name only or remain, why on earth would I vote?
“I’d go on holiday.”
Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that if the PM’s deal gets through Parliament, in the event of a second referendum May’s option should be put on the ballot paper, as well as the choice to remain.
An adviser to Jeremy Corbyn disputed whether those should be the two options, prompting Starmer to tell the BBC’s Today show: “What I do know is you have got elected politicians on your programme, you had Emily Thornberry out last night, setting out what the position is we agreed as the Labour Party.”
Corbyn on Monday said he would endorse moves to allow the UK to remain in the EU, while on Tuesday Theresa May offered MPs the chance to delay Brexit if she is unable to drum up support for her deal in parliament.