Pro-EU Tory MP says at least three more ministers could back second Brexit vote
2 min read
Three more ministers are mulling whether to quit the Government and back a second referendum on Brexit, a top Tory MP who himself resigned the frontbench in protest revealed today.
Dr Philip Lee - who dramatically stepped down from the Government in June this year - said other Conservative MPs were “on the cusp” of throwing their weight behind a fresh vote.
Pro-EU campaigners argue the public should be consulted over the deal Theresa May brings back from Brussels.
Heidi Allen became the latest Tory MP to back a so-called People’s Vote last weekend - joining Justine Greening, Dominic Grieve, Dr Sarah Wollaston and others in defiance of government policy.
At a fringe event at the Conservative conference in Birmingham today, Dr Lee said there were “significant numbers of colleagues who can see the arguments for a second vote”.
“I know of three ministers who do. I've had direct conversations with them,” he told the get-together, which had been banned from the main Tory conference venue.
“But it is a difficult environment for them to come out. I understand that and respect that. Because I didn't find it easy at all. I think some others are on the cusp. But it needs public support and business support.”
Dr Lee told his his fellow Tories there was an “electoral bounty to be had” in backing a second referendum, but urged them either way to “rise up and simply say ‘this country’s future is more important than my own’”.
Former Cabinet minister Justine Greening said there was a “growing body” of Tory MPs who were mulling whether to throw their weight behind the campaign.
But pro-EU Tory MPs found themselves under fire last night when pro-Brexit backbench colleague Conor Burns called for one of their rank to be deselected.
At the same conference event, chief Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg urged his colleagues to “think carefully about a People’s Vote”.
The chair of the influential European Research Group of pro-Brexit backbenchers added: “They have chosen that [name] because they think that a People’s Vote sounds catchy and popular. I’m afraid to my mind, it conjures up totalitarianism.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
