If We Get A No-Deal Brexit, A Second Referendum Is The Only Option: James O'Brien

4 September 2018, 14:58

Nobody voted for a no-deal Brexit, says James O'Brien, and if that's what happens, there's no alternative than to have another referendum.

Theresa May is trying to sell her Chequers Agreement to Parliament, but the EU's negotiator has suggested they won't accept her plan.

That means the prospect of a no-deal Brexit looms ever closer.

James O'Brien insists no one voted Leave in the referendum expecting to come out with no trade deal and if that happens, a second referendum is the only option.

Speaking on his LBC show, he said: "Nobody voted for No Deal. The only people pretending that they did are the people who are so deep in the con they know they can never get out.

"So what about the ordinary punters? The people whov oted for Norway-style or Switzerland-style, the people who believed the likes of Daniel Hannan when they said "Only a madman is talking about leaving the single market", the people who believed the likes of Owen Patterson and all the other charlatans when they queued up to say that we'd be able to leave the European Union without suffering economically in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

"They are now the same people arguing that the economic harm is what you voted for. The people who told you there wouldn't be any economic harm are now telling you that you consciously and deliberately voted for economic harm.

"And that's where I come in, because I don't get that. I cannot see any logical argument against the idea that if no deal becomes a plausible destination, we have to go to the country again.

"Given that nobody voted to leave the European Union without a deal, how could anybody argue that a referendum result in favour of leaving the European Union with a really good deal is somehow mandating a departure without any deal at all?"