Leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage has said he might support a referendum redo to end debate on the UK leaving the European Union. The prime minister's office replied that Britons wouldn't be going back to the Brexit polls.
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After leading the 2016 campaign for the United Kingdom of leave the European Union — and winning the vote by 52 percent to 48 percent — Nigel Farage hinted that he could be open to holding a second referendum to "kill off the issue for a generation once and for all."
Farage, who led the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said his mind was changing repeated calls to reverse the Brexit decision by several politicians, including Tony Blair, a former UK prime minister.
Remain proponents like Blair "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," Farage said Thursday on the Chanel 5 show The Wright Stuff.
"The percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time around," he said. "And we may just finish the whole thing off and Blair can just disappear off into total obscurity."
"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," Banks said in a statement. "Leave would win by a landslide."
It appears unlikely the public will ever find out if that will really be the case though. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday reiterated the government's stance that "Brexit means Brexit" and that there would not be a second referendum on British membership in the EU.
Brexit negotiations in Brussels have moved past their first phase dealing with borders, citizens' rights and divorce payments and are set to begin discussing future relations between the EU and UK, as well a transition phase after the final exit, scheduled for March 29, 2019.
Brexit negotiations: What are the key issues?
Brexit talks began in June and both sides have been frustrated at the lack of progress. DW has taken a look at key issues being debated in Brussels as the clock ticks toward Britain's scheduled departure in March 2019.
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Two phases
EU leaders agreed to negotiating guidelines during a summit in April 2017 that divided the divorce talks into two phases. Phase I, in which both sides aimed to settle the basic terms of Britain's departure, started in July and ended with an agreement on "sufficient progress" in December. Officials are now holding Phase II negotiations on the post-Brexit relationship between Britain and the EU.
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The "Brexit Bill"
London agreed to a formula for calculating what it owes in its "divorce bill" to the EU in early December after months of haggling by British officials. The current EU budget expires in 2022 and EU officials have said the divorce bill will cover financial obligations Britain had committed to before triggering article 50. The final bill will reportedly total around £50 billion (€67 billion).
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Citizens' rights
Both sides agreed in early December that the 3 million EU citizens currently in Britain and the 1.1 million British citizens in the EU keep their residency rights after Brexit. British courts will have immediate jurisdiction over EU citizens living in Britain. But the EU's highest court, the ECJ, can hear cases until 2027 if British judges refer unclear cases to them.
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The Irish border
Britain and the EU also agreed in December that no border checks between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland would return post-Brexit. How feasible the commitment will be is unclear, as Britain's commitment to leaving the EU Single Market and Customs Union makes it difficult to avoid customs checks at the Irish border.
Image: Reuters/C. Kilcoyne
Transition period
Theresa May envisages a two-year transition period after March 2019. Both sides still have to hash out the details of the transition period in Phase II, including the exact end-date, whether new EU laws passed during the period will apply to Britain, and whether Britain can negotiate its own free trade deals. British officials hope to agree on the terms of the transition by March 2018.
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Trade
May has repeatedly said Britain will leave the European Single Market and the EU Customs Union. Leaving both could disrupt British-EU trade, but allow Britain to negotiate its own free trade deals and restrict EU migration — key demands by pro-Brexit politicians. London has said it wants to negotiate a new EU-UK trade deal during Phase II to minimize trade disruption before March 2019.
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Immigration
Britain has also vowed to restrict EU migration into Britain after Brexit. However, some British lawmakers are wary that a sharp drop in immigration could lead to shortfalls in key sectors, including health, social care and construction. The EU has warned that Single Market access is out of the question if London decides to restrict the ability of its citizens to live and work in Britain.
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Security
Recent terror attacks across Europe including a string in Britain underline both sides' support for continued security cooperation after March 2019. But access to EU institutions such as Europol and programs such as the European Arrest Warrant require compliance with EU laws. Whether Britain will still be compliant after it leaves is unclear.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/o. Hoslet
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Ahead of the Brexit vote, when polls showed a narrow win for the Remain camp, Farage had told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. If the Remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it."
Until Thursday, he had not called for a second vote to give politicians a clearer mandate to leave the still 28-member bloc.
Liberal Democrats and some other pro-EU opposition politicians have called for a second referendum, often arguing that Britons did not know the full implications of leaving the EU when they voted.
In the same Wright Stuff interview on Thursday, Farage also praised US President Donald Trump, saying "he's very smart and he's doing a very good job" and said former presidential adviser Stephen Bannon "has been one of the great political brains of the modern time."
