Brexit: More than 390,000 sign letter demanding Final Say referendum in just five days

‘Please do not turn your back on this last chance to stop us turning in on ourselves’

More than 380,000 people have signed a letter in just five days demanding a Final Say referendum on Brexit.

The open letter, organised by the People’s Vote campaign and The Independent, calls on officials in the UK and EU to allow the British public to have a fresh vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.

Hundreds of thousands of signatures have been added to the list of names backing the petition since a reported one million people marched on parliament on Saturday to demand another referendum.

The open letter says: “We do not want the powerful to force on the people a Brexit that will damage the economy in both the UK and the EU, threaten the peace process in Northern Ireland, as well as lead to years more uncertainty and chaos.

“Please do not turn your back on this last chance to stop us turning in on ourselves.

“Allow us to check whether we want to proceed with this Brexit. Let us decide in a people’s vote.”

The Independent has been campaigning for a Final Say referendum since 2018 and has secured backing from more than 1.3 million people.

The prime minister is trying to push his Brexit deal through parliament by the 31 October deadline.

However crowds in Parliament Square on Saturday cheered as MPs backed a rebel amendment by Sir Oliver Letwin to withhold approval of Mr Johnson’s plan until the full Brexit legislation has passed.

And on Tuesday night the prime minister was served another humiliating Commons defeat as MPs voted by 322 to 308 to reject his plan to push legislation approving his Brexit deal through the Commons in just three days.

The prime minister told MPs he would now “pause” the Withdrawal Agreement Bill until the EU takes a decision on whether to grant another Brexit delay.

But the vote appears to have scuppered his hopes of leaving with a deal in just nine days’ time.

The Final Say letter will be delivered simultaneously to Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament before 31 October, as well as the EU Parliament and the building in Brussels where the EU council meets.

MPs will individually be sent a list of signatories from their constituencies.

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has previously declared his support for the campaign in an email to supporters.

He said: “It’s a letter from the people that will go not only to the prime minister, every MP and MEP, as well as the head of all the heads of government among the 27 other European member states.

“It asks them to honour our shared democratic values; it asks them not to turn away from us now and deny us the chance for the final say.

“Whether you’re joining us today or not, add your name to the letter now and send a message to the powerful.”

The letter can be signed at www.peoples-vote.uk/letter.