UK PM May attacks second Brexit referendum proposal - Bloomberg

As reported by Bloomberg, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has launched an attack on proposals to undergo a second Brexit referendum, accusing former Prime Minister Tony Blair of "undermining" current negotiations, and calling the second referendum proposal a breach of trust.

Key quotes

Another referendum “would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics, because it would say to millions who trusted in democracy, that our democracy does not deliver,” May will say, according to extracts of her planned statement to Parliament released by her office. It “would further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite it.”

Contingency planning for a “no-deal” Brexit has been stepped up, but May’s office dismissed as “categorically untrue” a report in the Sunday Times that people would be warned not to book holidays after March.

The idea of a second referendum is gaining traction among those who hope it would stop the U.K. leaving the bloc, and those who see it as a threat that will bring Brexiteers behind May’s plan. One Cabinet member said he wants it on the table to convince them that no Brexit at all is a real possibility if they don’t back the prime minister.

“It is highly significant that Downing Street felt it had to issue these advance extracts of her statement to the House of Commons,” former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, a member of the opposition Labour Party, said in a statement. “Officials know the prospect of a People’s Vote is being discussed not just in Westminster but in the corridors of Whitehall too.”