Brexit: Government must extend Article 50 and hold 'public hearings' with voters, Gordon Brown says

Former prime minister calls for regional assemblies to be set up to give public more control over EU withdrawal

Gordon Brown has called on the government to extend Article 50 and seek voters' views on how to break the deadlock over Brexit.

The former prime minister used a speech in Edinburgh on Thursday night to call for MPs to hold a series of "public hearings" across the country to listen to voters' views on Brexit.

He proposed creating "citizens' national assemblies" in every UK nation and region in a bid to heal divisions that he suggested are deeper than they have been for decades.

Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Lisa Nandy have already called for a "citizens' assembly" to be set up to help decide the terms of Britain's EU withdrawal, insisting it is the best way of ending the impasse in parliament.

Lending his support to the plan, Mr Brown argued that a similar model has been successful in Canada, Australia, the USA and parts of Scandinavia.

In Ireland, he said an assembly of 99 citizens helped settle some of the issues relating to the country's constitution in the run-up to last year's referendum on abortion, which saw Irish voters decide to legalise the practice.

Arguing that the Brexit "crisis is now so profound that parliament cannot now solve it on its own", Mr Brown said: “What is clear is that we cannot end the Brexit crisis without also repairing the trust and rebuilding the unity of a divided country.

“Indeed, the dialogue Britain now needs - and deserves - is not just one between parliament and government - Mrs May’s latest throw of the dice - but between our political elite and the people.

“Trust cannot be rebuilt without the widest possible involvement of citizens and communities as well as politicians. The people of Britain must be brought back into this debate.”

He pointed to a new poll showing that voters want more of a say on Brexit by a margin of almost two to one.

Under Mr Brown's plan, the government would negotiate with the EU to extend Article 50 for one year in order to convene a series of regional citizens' assemblies around the country.

A consultation would be held in every region and could be overseen by parliament's select committees if the government refused.

Voters would be asked to give their views on key questions relating to Brexit, including how close a relationship the UK should maintain with the EU and whether freedom of movement should end. MPs could also commission polling to help uncover what the public wants.

The results would then be considered by parliament and renegotiations with the EU reopened to secure a deal on the terms favoured by voters.

The outcome of the talks would be put back to the public via a fresh Brexit referendum.

Arguing that parliament is "paralysed and immobilised", Mr Brown said: "Citizens’ national assemblies can begin to bridge the current gap in our democracy as the Irish experience has shown, providing a means through which difficult issues can be considered.

“And precisely because parliament has reached an impasse, citizens’ assemblies offer a fresh opportunity for parliament to hear how representative groups of people across all regions and nations think unity can be restored."

The former prime minister also argued that divisions in Britain are deeper than at any time in modern history, including during the miners' strike and poll tax riots.

He said: "Britain is already more divided than during the three-day week of the 1970s or during the miners’ strike of the 1980s.

“We are more divided than over the poll-tax, whose troubles came to a head in the early 1990s.

“In addition, I suggest we are more divided today than even in 2016 after the bitterest of referendum campaigns - with a rising anger across the country over what people see as an out-of-touch political elite and paralysed parliament."

His latest intervention in the Brexit debate came as Theresa May held a series of meetings with MPs from across the Commons in an attempt to plot a way forward after her deal was overwhelmingly rejected by parliament.

She met leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Plaid Cymru on Thursday but did not hold talks with Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, after he insisted that the prime minister must first rule out no-deal as an option.

In remarks that will be seen as criticism of Ms May, Mr Brown said: “During days as extraordinary as these, bold, innovative leadership is needed. In desperate times you cannot cling to and simply repeat the old familiar responses that have failed and muddling through or making do is no solution."

He also called it a "near tragedy" that the UK and Donald Trump's USA are now seen as "the most dysfunctional of democracies".