The highest-profile ruling-party figure to call for a second Brexit referendum has put more cats among Theresa May's pigeons. Support for a new poll is gaining traction, as May's compromise looks increasingly stillborn.
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Remain-supporting Justine Greening wrote in The Times newspaper on Monday that a second Brexit referendum was "the only way" to resolve the ongoing parliamentary stalemate over how the UK plans to extricate itself from the 28-member bloc.
The former education minister said May's recent proposals would satisfy neither those wanting a decisive break between London and Brussels in a "hard" Brexit nor those wanting to maintain close trading links between the UK and EU.
Speaking later on BBC Radio 4's Today program, Greening said she expected other senior Tories to support the idea and outlined a system using first- and second-preference votes to ensure that the preferred model achieved more than 50 percent of the final vote.
Britain is leaving the European Union, but who exactly is directing the drama? DW takes a look at the people involved in the messy divorce.
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Britain's embattled skipper: Theresa May
May became prime minister after David Cameron resigned from the post in the wake of the Brexit referendum vote in June 2016. Despite her position, she has struggled to define what kind of Brexit her government wants. Hardliners within her Conservative party want her to push for a clean break. Others want Britain to stay close to the bloc. The EU itself has rejected many of May's Brexit demands.
The leader of the British Labour Party has no formal role in the Brexit talks, but he is influential as the head of the main opposition party. Labour has tried to pressure the Conservative government, which has a thin majority in Parliament, to seek a "softer" Brexit. But Corbyn's own advocacy has been lukewarm. The long-time leftist voted for the UK to leave the European Community (EC) in 1975.
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Britain's boisterous Brexiteer: Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson's turbulent two years as UK foreign secretary came to an abrupt end with his resignation on July 9. The conservative had been a key face for the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum campaign. Johnson disapproves of the "soft Brexit" sought by PM May, arguing that a complete break from the EU might be preferable. He became the second Cabinet member within 24 hours to quit...
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Britain's cheery ex-delegate: David Davis
David Davis headed Britain's Department for Exiting the EU and was the country's chief negotiator in the talks before he quit on July 8, less than 24 hours before Downing Street announced Boris Johnson's departure. Davis had long opposed Britain's EU membership and was picked for the role for this reason. Davis was involved in several negotiating rounds with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.
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Britain's former Brexit secretary: Dominic Raab
Raab replaced Davis in early July 2018. But he only lasted four months, resigning a day after Theresa May presented a draft withdrawal plan to her cabinet. Raab previously worked for a Palestinian negotiator in the Oslo peace process and as an international lawyer in Brussels advising on European Union and World Trade Organization law.
Jeremy Hunt was Britain's Health Secretary until he replaced Boris Johnson as foreign secretary in early July 2018. The 51-year-old supported Britain remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, but said in late 2017 that he had changed his mind in response to the "the arrogance of the EU Commission" during Brexit talks. He has vowed to help get Britain a "great Brexit deal."
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Britain's firebrand: Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage was the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) until July 2016. Under his stewardship, the party helped pressure former Prime Minister David Cameron into calling the EU referendum. He was also a prominent activist in the Leave campaign in the lead-up to the vote. Farage still has some influence over Brexit talks due to his popularity with pro-Leave voters.
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Brexit's banker: Arron Banks
Businessman Arron Banks is a friend of Nigel Farage, and donated a significant sum to the former UKIP leader's Leave.EU campaign – making him the group's biggest financial backer. He had several meetings with Russian officials ahead of the referendum, but has denied allegations of collusion with Moscow in the Brexit vote, branding the claims a "political witch hunt."
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Europe's honchos: Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk
EU Commission President Juncker (left) and EU Council President Tusk (right) share two of the bloc's highest posts. Juncker heads the EU's executive. Tusk represents the governments of the 27 EU countries — the "EU 27." Both help formulate the EU's position in Brexit negotiations. What Tusk says is particularly noteworthy: His EU 27 masters — not the EU commission — must agree to any Brexit deal.
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Europe's steely diplomat: Michel Barnier
The former French foreign minister and European commissioner has become a household name across the EU since his appointment as the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator in October 2016. Despite his prominence, Barnier has limited room to maneuver. He is tasked with following the EU 27's strict guidelines and must regularly report back to them during the negotiations.
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Ireland's uneasy watchman: Leo Varadkar
The Irish PM has been one of the most important EU 27 leaders in Brexit talks. Britain has said it will leave the EU's customs union and single market. That could force the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, to put up customs checks along the border with Northern Ireland, a British province. But Varadkar's government has repeatedly said the return of a "hard" border is unacceptable.
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Europe's power-brokers: the EU 27
The leaders of the EU 27 governments have primarily set the EU's negotiating position. They have agreed to the negotiating guidelines for chief negotiator Barnier and have helped craft the common EU position for Tusk and Juncker to stick to. The individual EU 27 governments can also influence the shape of any Brexit outcome because they must unanimously agree to a final deal.
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Greening added that May's proposal was now dead. It was a "genuine, clever attempt at a compromise," but had proved to be unworkable, she said.
"We'll be dragging Remain voters out of the EU for a deal that means still complying with many EU rules, but now with no say on shaping them," Greening, who left the government in January, wrote.
"It's not what they want, and on top of that when they hear that Leave voters are unhappy, they ask, 'What's the point?' For Leavers, this deal simply does not deliver the proper break from the European Union that they wanted."
"The only solution is to take the final Brexit decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians, away from the backroom deals, and give it back to the people," she wrote.
May in a bind
May's Brexit strategy, outlined at a meeting with the Cabinet 10 days ago, aims for a close relationship with the EU after the UK leaves in March 2019. Her move led to the resignation of two senior ministers and has come under attack from both supporters of Remain and Leavers, both in her own party and in the opposition.
A ninth government member quit on Monday over opposition to May's proposals for leaving the EU. Scott Mann, a Conservative MP, joined the euroskeptic rebels by resigning as a parliamentary secretary to the treasury. "I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered down Brexit," he wrote.
There will be no rerun of the 2016 vote, in which Britons voted 52-48 percent to leave the bloc, a spokesman for May said on Monday.
"The British public have voted to leave the European Union. There is not going to be a second referendum ... under any circumstances," the spokesman told reporters.
The prime minister could face a rebellion from Brexit supporters in her own party, many of whose lawmakers want her to ditch her plan. They vote on amendments to legislation on the government's post-Brexit customs regime on Monday.
Ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote on Sunday in a post on the website of his Institute for Global Change that there should be another national vote.
Blair suggested there should be three choices for voters. "The question may be complicated because it really involves three choices: Clean Break, 'soft' or stay. But the complexity is not insuperable," he said.
