Labour must back a people’s vote before the clock runs out | Timothy Garton Ash

A second referendum may be difficult – but the only alternative is a ‘blindfold Brexit’

Over the next few weeks, Britain faces a stark binary choice. It is not the blackmail choice that Theresa May misleadingly poses: my deal or no deal. Nor is it the choice Jeremy Corbyn still implausibly claims: her bad Brexit or his much better Brexit. The real choice we must make before B-day (currently 29 March) is this: blindfold Brexit or democratic timeout.

As parliament takes back control, we urgently need the Labour front bench to join MPs from all parties in getting us to the timeout. By timeout I mean a period of democratic deliberation leading up to a second referendum, in which we decide, on the basis of everything we now know, how we should address the real problems that contributed to the vote for Brexit in 2016, what kind of country we really want to be – and whether we can do that better outside or inside the EU. For this, our EU partners will extend article 50 and give us the necessary time.

Related: An election would be a headache for Labour – and all-out war for the Tories | Polly Toynbee

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