Two of the three MPs for Brighton and Hove added their voice to the clamour for a second Brexit referendum.
They spoke out in the House of Commons as Prime Minister Theresa May defended her draft deal for leaving the European Union today (Thursday 15 November).
Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove, said: “It is obvious that the Prime Minister does not command a majority in the House.
“People who support leave know the deal gives power to the EU instead of bringing it back and people who support remain know it is not as good as the one we have.
“We have got to this position because she has been playing games with Brexit from the beginning, including by calling a general election in the middle of the negotiation period.
“Will she now do the right thing, go back to the people and let them say whether the deal is good enough?
“It would not be a rerun of the referendum. The first was based on promises. This one would be based on facts.”
Mrs May said: “I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave earlier.”
One of those earlier answers was to David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, when she said: “I think that having had the vote in 2016, the British people will look at this chamber, this House and this Parliament and say what people say to me when I go to talk to them on the doorsteps, which is, ‘Actually, we have taken the decision to leave. Just get on with it. Just deliver.'”
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, asked: “The Prime Minister knows that her deal is dead and that no deal would be a disaster, so we risk chaos, job losses, environmental rules torn up, the NHS in crisis.
“That was never the will of the people. They did not vote for that.
“This is not a parlour game. It is about real people’s real lives, and those risks can only be addressed if we put aside party politics.
“So I appeal to the Prime Minister again: why will she not give the people of this country a vote – a people’s vote – on where this country goes next?”
Mrs May said: “I could refer the honourable lady to answers I have given earlier, but let me repeat my answer: this Parliament gave the people a vote, the people voted to leave and we will deliver on the people’s vote.”
