UK voters would choose to stop Brexit if given another referendum, Irish premier says

‘All the polls suggest that’s what the British people actually want, but their political system isn’t able to give them that choice’

The British public would vote to stop Brexit if it was given the opportunity, says Irish premier Leo Varadkar, as he rejected Boris Johnson’s new plans.

“All the polls since prime minister Johnson became prime minister suggest that’s what the British people actually want, but their political system isn’t able to give them that choice,” Mr Varadkar said.

The comment comes after Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, said a majority of MPs now supports a Final Say referendum – but warned it depends on Jeremy Corbyn to make it happen.

Meanwhile, a new poll showed the public backs a fresh referendum, rather than a general election, as the better way to break the deadlock, if necessary.

Only 35 per cent of voters support an election – the approach favoured by both the Conservatives and Labour – while 40 per cent view a Final Say public vote as the better way forward.

The EU is now poised to reject the prime minister’s proposals, after both Ireland and MEPs branded them unacceptable, dashing his hopes of a deal.

With MPs having passed a law to block a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, it is increasingly likely that Mr Johnson will be forced to seek an extension of the Article 50 process.

That puts a referendum back in play as a possible route out of the crisis if the prime minister does not call an election, or if MPs still refuse to grant it.

The YouGov poll, of 1,620 voters, found that Labour supporters prefer a referendum over a general election by a margin of almost three-to-one, by 65 to 23 per cent.

Peter Kellner, the former president of pollsters YouGov, said: “It is clear that the public mood is hardening in favour of a people’s vote to decide whether Brexit should go ahead.

“As far as the general public is concerned, democracy is no longer served by simply enacting the result of the 2016 referendum.”

The survey comes after Labour MPs piled pressure on Mr Corbyn to shift his stance at a parliamentary meeting this week, backing deputy Tom Watson’s call to push for a referendum first.

Some of the Conservative MPs kicked out of the parliamentary party for helping to block a no-deal Brexit also now favour a referendum, led by the former cabinet minister Oliver Letwin.

Both Ireland and a group of senior MEPs have now branded Mr Johnson’s proposals unacceptable, while at Westminster, MPs have passed a law to block a crash out.

Explaining his rejection, Mr Varadkar said the plan “falls short in a number of aspects”, questioning the idea of Northern Ireland and the Republic operating under different customs regimes without the need for customs posts.

“It’s very much the view of the Irish government and the people of Ireland, north and south, that there shouldn’t be customs checkpoints or tariffs between north and south,” he said.