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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/11/nigel-farage-backs-fresh-brexit-referendum-to-kill-off-issue
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Nigel Farage backs fresh Brexit referendum to 'kill off' issue | Nigel Farage backs fresh Brexit referendum to 'kill off' issue |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Nigel Farage has proposed a second referendum on leaving the EU to settle the issue for a generation, as he believes the result would be the same again. | Nigel Farage has proposed a second referendum on leaving the EU to settle the issue for a generation, as he believes the result would be the same again. |
| The former Ukip leader suggested another poll would ultimately kill off the campaign for Brexit to be reversed, which is championed by remainers such as Tony Blair, Andrew Adonis and Nick Clegg. | The former Ukip leader suggested another poll would ultimately kill off the campaign for Brexit to be reversed, which is championed by remainers such as Tony Blair, Andrew Adonis and Nick Clegg. |
| Speaking on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, he said: “My mind is actually changing on all this. What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonises will never, ever, ever give up. They will go on whinging and whining and moaning all the way through this process. | Speaking on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, he said: “My mind is actually changing on all this. What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonises will never, ever, ever give up. They will go on whinging and whining and moaning all the way through this process. |
| “So maybe, just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership . I think that if we had a second referendum on EU membership we would kill it off for a generation. | |
| “The percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round. And we may just finish the whole thing off. And Blair can disappear off into total obscurity.” | “The percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round. And we may just finish the whole thing off. And Blair can disappear off into total obscurity.” |
| Farage immediately won support from his ally Arron Banks, the prominent Brexit supporter, who helped bankroll one of the leave campaigns. | |
| “If we do not act radically now, we will sleepwalk into a faux Brexit, in name only,” he said. “True Brexiteers have been backed into a corner and the only option now is to go back to the polls and let the people shout from the rooftops their support of a true Brexit. Leave would win by a landslide.” | |
| However, it did not win support from Conservative Brexit supporters, who suggested he was simply seeking attention at a time when Ukip has lost its purpose and slumped in the polls. | |
| Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative MP, told the Guardian: “The moment the public voted to leave the EU, and a Conservative government are enacting that, then unfortunately for Ukip, they are superfluous. I think that’s what it’s about. | |
| “I do agree with Mr Farage that if we had another referendum it would result in an overwhelming vote to leave. But there is no need to do it.” | |
| Steve Baker, a Brexit minister, said the former Ukip leader’s comments were “further confirmation of my long-held view that Nigel Farage is one of the greatest impediments to a successful Brexit”. | |
| Henry Bolton, the new leader of Ukip, and a number of senior party officials, also rejected Farage’s call for another poll. | |
| “I am convinced that the leave side would win a second referendum, should one be held, with an even larger majority than before,” he said. | |
| In contrast, Farage’s proposal was also met with approval by anti-Brexit campaigners, who hold out hope that public opinion is turning away from leaving the EU as a result of its economic risks. | |
| Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader, simply tweeted: “I agree with Nigel.” Adonis added: “Farage wants a referendum on Mrs May’s Brexit deal. I agree. Bring it on!” | |
| Mark Malloch Brown, a peer who chairs the Best for Britain campaign, said another referendum was “something that the country needs”. | |
| “Every day we see the disaster of Brexit it as we see it’s impact on our economy, jobs, communities and our society,” he said. “With these comments Nigel Farage is disowning the chaos that trying to leave the EU has wrought on this country. Him and his Brexiteer allies have zero idea of what would come next.” | “Every day we see the disaster of Brexit it as we see it’s impact on our economy, jobs, communities and our society,” he said. “With these comments Nigel Farage is disowning the chaos that trying to leave the EU has wrought on this country. Him and his Brexiteer allies have zero idea of what would come next.” |
| Tom Brake, a Lib Dem MP and his party’s spokesman on Brexit, said support was now growing on both sides of the argument for a vote on the final deal, although the Lib Dems were the only major party that advocated another poll in their election manifesto. | |