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Karen Bradley criticised after claiming second Brexit referendum would deliver bigger Leave majority

Karen Bradley says she believes more people would vote to Leave the EU in a second Brexit poll
Karen Bradley says she believes more people would vote to Leave the EU in a second Brexit poll Karen Bradley says she believes more people would vote to Leave the EU in a second Brexit poll

CLAIMS by the secretary of state that a second EU referendum would deliver an even bigger majority for Leave have been described as "laughable".

Restating her opposition to a `people's vote' on the ultimate Brexit deal, Karen Bradley, who voted Remain in 2016, insisted it would undermine the democratic process.

Her fresh comments attracted criticism with Mrs Bradley accused of thinking of Brexit only in terms of how it affected the DUP.

In 2016's Brexit referendum the majority of people in the north, 56 per cent, voted to remain in European Union.

Mrs Bradley's comments came two days after hundreds of people turned out at Belfast City Hall for an anti-Brexit demonstration.

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Addressing a meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London yesterday Mrs Bradley said the people had already spoken.

"I personally think, from my knocking on doors, there would be a bigger vote for Leave," she said.

"The fact is the people spoke. We had a people's vote."

She added that in any situation "we will not allow there to be a border".

"There are two communities in Northern Ireland, and much of what the European Union has put forward in terms of suggestions around the backstop are not acceptable to the unionist community in Northern Ireland, and they aren't acceptable to the British government, so that's why we are working to find a backstop that works for everyone," she said.

SDLP assembly member Claire Hanna has called for a second referendum saying the "best and fairest and most plausible way out of this is a people's vote".

"First Karen Bradley revealed that she didn't know about unionism and nationalism, now she acknowledges that she is thinking of Brexit only in terms of how it affects the DUP," Ms Hanna told The Irish News.

She said if Karen Bradley is suggesting that a Brexit outcome opposed by one community is unacceptable, "then the same logic should apply for those of all political persuasions and none who voted to remain".

She added: "If Karen Bradley is so confident that people are responding well to Brexit, then she should be happy to put it to the vote."

Alliance assembly member John Blair said Mrs Bradley's suggestion was "laughable" and referred to the huge numbers of people who attended anti-Brexit rallies at the weekend.