UK's Farage supports second Brexit referendum
Bookmakers say Britain would reverse 2016 vote to leave
Former UKIP leader and Brexit architect Nigel Farage called for a second referendum on EU membership on Thursday, claiming Britain would repeat its decision to leave.
Farage, marginalised after 2016's referendum, has recently intensified efforts to rally support for a no-deal Brexit as Britain's negotiators flounder with just over a year to go before the UK leaves the bloc.
He took a swipe at the trio of anti-Brexiters, former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, Labour minister Andrew Adonis and the ex-Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, accusing them of “whinging and whining”.
“My mind is actually changing on all this. What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonises will never, ever, ever give up,” Farage told British TV.
“So maybe, just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership … unless you want to have a multiple choice referendum, which would confuse people. I think that if we had a second referendum on EU membership we would kill it off for a generation."
“The percentage that would vote to leave next time would be very much bigger than it was last time round. And we may just finish the whole thing off. And Blair can disappear off into total obscurity.”
Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said there would be no second referendum.
Bookmakers suggested Farage's latest attempt to put himself back in the spotlight might backfire spectacularly.
Paddy Power said the UK was 4/7 odds-on to vote ‘remain’ if the Brexit re-vote takes place. The bookie was offering 11/8 on another 'leave' decision.
It also cut odds of a second EU referendum to 5/1 from 10/1.
“Nigel Farage has opened a big old can of worms with this one – but no bigger than the Brexit multipack he cracked open for the UK. His suggestion of a second EU Referendum is only going to increase the pressure on Theresa May to green light a re-vote. If she did, we think the UK would change its mind,” a Paddy Power spokesman said.
Ladbrokes said a second vote was "unlikely". It was offering 5/1 on a the chance the nation would go to the polls again before the end of 2019.
"At 11/8 it is more likely that no deal will have been agreed before 1 April, 2019," Ladbrokes said.
It was also offering 7/2 for the UK to be a full member of EU on 1 Jan, 2020.