David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, has called on parliament to stop Brexit.
In a statement published on Twitter, he wrote: “Wake up. We do not have to do this. We can stop this madness and bring this nightmare to an end through a vote in Parliament. Our sovereign Parliament needs to now vote on whether we should exit the EU.
“The referendum was an advisory, non-binding referendum. The Leave campaign’s platform has already unravelled and some people wish they hadn’t voted to Leave. Parliament now needs to decide whether we should go forward with Brexit, and there should be a vote in Parliament next week. Let us not destroy our economy on the basis of lies and the hubris of Boris Johnson.”
Lammy’s words follow a petition to re-run the referendum, which has gathered 1.75 million signatures since Friday.
However, the margin of victory in the referendum – more than a million votes – makes it unlikely party leaders would countenance any attempt to derail the Brexit process. On Saturday morning, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said there should be no second referendum. Tory leader David Cameron has also accepted the result, and triggered a leadership election.
It is true, though, that had Britain’s EU membership been decided in parliament, rather than by a referendum, there would have been an overwhelming vote to Remain. Just 138 Tory MPs declared for Leave, compared with 185 for Remain. In Labour, just 10 declared for Leave, versus 218 for Remain, while no Lib Dem, Scottish Nationalist, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Fein or SDLP MPs backed Leave.
Rob Ford, an academic who has studied Ukip voters, said Lammy’s call was “utter madness”:
Utter madness. Can’t think of a better “out of touch” signal than London Labour MP demanding referendum be ignored https://t.co/n1BvYrndPT
— (((Rob Ford))) (@robfordmancs) June 25, 2016
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