Brexit: Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez urges Theresa May to call fresh referendum

Premier says UK heading down path of 'self-absorption'

Spain's Prime minister Pedro Sanchez holds a news conference at the European Council summit in Brussels (FILE) (EPA)

Spain’s centre-left prime minister has backed calls for a second Brexit referendum, warning that Britain has taken the path to “self-absorption”.

Pedro Sanchez said Britain was a “marvellous country” that had exerted a “positive influence” on the EU and that it should stay in or re-join in the future.

“If I was Theresa May, I would call a second referendum — no doubt,” Mr Sanchez said in an interview with the Politico news website.

He told the outlet that Brexit was “a great loss for both” the UK and the EU, adding: “I hope it can be reconsidered in the future”.

The premier, who came to power this year after a vote of no confidence in his predecessor, said the UK was heading down the path of “self-absorption which isn’t going to be good either for the UK or for Europe”.

But Mr Sanchez was cool on the prospect of holding the vote immediately, with the clock ticking down before the UK crashes out in March, barring any extension.

“I’d like to see the British government calling a second referendum. I don’t mean now, but in the future, so that it can come back to the EU. In another way, but back into the EU,” he said.

If I was Theresa May, I would call a second referendum — no doubt

Pedro Sanchez, Spanish prime minister

His intervention comes after Jo Johnson, a transport minister and brother of Boris Johnson, on Friday resigned and called for a second vote.

700,000 people took to the streets of London last month calling for a final say on Theresa May’s deal with the option of staying in the EU.

Polling by YouGov suggests the public would narrowly prefer a second referendum to either Theresa May’s likely Brexit deal or a no-deal.

But the UK prime minister has ruled out consulting the public further on the decision, stating at the end of October: “There will be no second referendum on Brexit.”

She also said a general election “would not be in the national interest” and that the Government was not preparing for one – despite the likely prospect of the current House of Commons rejecting the deal she appears set to come back with.

In September Malta’s prime minister Joseph Muscat said EU leaders were “almost unanimous” in wishing the UK would hold a second referendum, though most have held their tongue in public and said the decision is one of the UK.

A previous exception is Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who he was “very unhappy” the UK was leaving and that “it would be better maybe to make another referendum”.

Labour has kept the prospect of a second referendum on the table in the event of a no-deal but has said it is committed to respecting the result of the first. The main opposition party looks increasingly likely to vote down what the PM comes back from Brussels, with the emerging deal not meeting its criteria on trade access and safeguarding workers’ rights.

If the deal is voted down the law states that the prime minister must consult MPs on the way forward and give them a vote on what to do.