Be ‘Brave’ And Face Down Far Right Over Second Brexit Referendum, Sadiq Khan Tells MPs

“And actually, by the way, the best way to heal divisions and to deal with issues of discord isn’t to bury them away, which is what a ‘bad deal or no-deal’ would do, but I actually think a public vote would be cathartic, but also a proper campaign now we know the mistruths, now we know the tricks used by the Brexit campaign [they] would be addressed in a new public vote.” 

Grayling, who is calling for MPs to back May’s deal, said the UK risks ushering in “extreme” political forces, and that there was evidence of this on the continent.

“We have seen in pretty much every other country in Europe the emergence of new significant political parties at the political extremes, and my concern is if we say to those 17.4m people who voted to leave ‘actually, guys, we are not leaving after all’, we will see the emergence of a force like that and we will see real impact on our politics.” 

Khan was also challenged over whether he thought London was unable to succeed should Britain drop out without a deal.

He said London would recover from any economic dip, and added: ″My point is that we would be more successful as part of a reformed EU. My concern is that if a false narrative is given of ‘accept this bad Brexit deal or there is no alternative whatsoever’ that is blackmailing MPs to vote a certain way. I think MPs should be brave and vote to reject the deal on Tuesday. 

“And if we can’t get a general election the next best thing is for the public to take control bearing in mind there is gridlock in parliament.”