Blair joins senior politicians and Remain backers to plot against Brexit with calls for new poll
Tony Blair, Nicola Sturgeon and Angela Merkel crony Altmaier bid to overturn the result 17 million Brits voted for
SENIOR politicians and Remain backers are plotting against Brexit.
Ex-PM Tony Blair fuelled calls for a new referendum, while Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her MPs may try to block withdrawal.
Seventeen Labour frontbenchers also quit in a bid to replace leader Jeremy Corbyn with a pro-EU candidate.
Mr Blair said it would be hard to re-run but added: "Why rule it out?" German leader Angela Merkel's Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier urged a UK re-think, saying our politicians "should have the possibility to reconsider the consequences of an exit".
The calls came as David Cameron today lays out a route to Brexit as he faces the Commons for the first time since announcing his resignation.
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He will tell MPs that civil servants are starting work on a formal split.
Pro-Leave Tory MPs want him to implement the EU's Article 50 to start a UK exit, instead of waiting for his successor to do it in October.
Tensions spiralled yesterday after senior figures claimed the country was descending into anarchy.
EU can't be serious: Could there really be a second EU referendum and overrule the vote for Brexit?
WITH millions signing a petition to have the EU referendum re-run could we looked at just how likely a second vote really is.
It has become a hot topic after a petition to trigger another referendum reached more than three million signatures.
It states: “We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.”
But is that actually possible? The short answer is no.
Once it received more than 100,000 signatures it became eligible to be debated in parliament.
However there are other ways it could be disregarded and run again because a referendum is in fact not legally binding.
In theory, the PM could ignore the referendum result and put the question to a parliamentary debate.
Given that the majority of MPs want us to remain they could very well throw out the result or order another referendum to take place.
Another way to avoid Brexit is if another general election was to take place in the near future.
This would require a motion to pass in the House of Commons with a two-thirds majority to overturn the Fixed term Parliament Act, which says the next election should take place in May 2020.
Or if the Prime Minister fails to invoke Article 50, which sets a two-year time limit on the negotiations to get us out of the EU, then it could lead to another referendum.
If whoever replaces him in Downing Street does not activate it for a while either than the next General Election could come before the negotiations are complete.
Overall however, those seeking a second referendum are unlikely to have their wishes fulfilled.
As Labour's leadership coup also erupted, one Tory MP described Westminster last night as "a cluster goat f*** with knobs on".
Chancellor George Osborne made a statement today about his safeguards to protect the economy.
He reassured “Britain is open for business” in a bid to calm the market post Brexit – but warned “it will not be plain sailing”.
The Cabinet will also meet for the first time this morning since the poll.
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