Final Say: Caroline Lucas backs Independent's campaign for a referendum on final Brexit deal

'They know our current trajectory is grim – with the chance of a no-deal Brexit growing, and the best-case-scenario trade deal set to be a significant downgrade from the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy now'

Co-leader of the Green party Caroline Lucas (REUTERS)

Caroline Lucas has offered her backing to The Independent’s campaign for a Final Say on the Brexit deal as she called for a temporary suspension of male ex-politicians taking to the airwaves to lead on the issue.

The comments from the co-leader of the Green party come as a petition launched to coincide with the push received backing from over 270,000 members of the public in just 48 hours.

In an article for The Independent, Ms Lucas, the Green’s only representative in Westminster, said that with the government in “chaos” and parliament in “gridlock” over Brexit, “the case for a vote on the final deal is growing every day”.

But she urged for a “gear shift” away from such a campaign being led by elites and called for a “moratorium” on “male ex-politicians taking to the airwaves as leaders on this issue”.

“The Remain campaign needs to find new faces,” she wrote.

Ms Lucas highlighted the “mistakes” made by the 2016 Remain campaign during the referendum, adding: “This couldn't be better illustrated than by the phalanx of men who are fronting efforts to keep Britain in the EU.

“Though ex-party leaders and their friends often offer interesting insights, they are simply the wrong people to be heading up a campaign that must gain people’s trust, and change their minds too.”

Ms Lucas continued: “They know our current trajectory is grim – with the chance of a no-deal Brexit growing, and the best-case-scenario trade deal set to be a significant downgrade from the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy now.

“And they know, in light of all that’s happened since 2016, they deserve a final say on our relationship with the European Union – but this time things must be different.”

Launching the campaign on Wednesday, The Independent editorial said: “The British people decided to pursue our course in the referendum of 2016, so as we now look for a decision on whether we will like the deal agreed with the EU (assuming there is one), it is natural that those same people should have the final say.

“Indeed, given the magnitude of the decision, it would be essential for the British people to be given that final right of approval, even if cabinet and parliament were providing the leadership we need, which they are not.”

On Friday, the Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, Catherine West also said she was supporting the campaign.

“Over the past two years, I have consistently called for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal. The case for holding such a referendum is now more clear than ever,” she told The Independent.

“Theresa May’s Chequers Deal is dead in the water. She has allowed hard-right Brexiteers to hijack the Government’s approach to . She has become a hostage within her own party. Parliament is paralysed- a ‘People’s Vote’ on the final Brexit deal will break the deadlock.”