Although I campaigned hard, both locally and nationally, for Britain to remain in the EU, I accept the democratic decision of the British people.
Turnout for the 2016 people’s referendum was larger than at any election since 1992. No Prime Minister or party in British history has ever received as many votes as the vote to leave did. So the Government has a duty to deliver the referendum result and achieve the best possible result for the whole country. It is doing so, and I do not believe anyone could do it better than our Prime Minister.
The 2016 ballot paper presented voters with an unambiguous choice to remain in the EU or to leave. The consequences of either decision were communicated by campaign groups on both sides through a variety of print, audio-visual and digital media. The Government also sent a document to every household in the country on the benefits of staying in the EU. We explained that this was a once in a lifetime vote, not like a General Election, where the country can change its mind a few years later.
But the voters did not agree with us, and we lost. So, I agree with the Prime Minister when she said in the House of Commons on 17 December 2018:
“Another vote 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. Another vote would likely leave us no further forward than the last, and another vote would further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite it.”