Guto Bebb, the Conservative MP for Aberconwy and former defence minister, has announced his support for the People’s Vote campaign today. He joins Sarah Wollaston, Justine Greening, Anna Soubry, and Philip Lee.
- A fifth Conservative MP has joined the People's Vote campaign.
- Guto Bebb supports the idea of giving the British people a referendum on the final Brexit deal.
- The movement is growing in public and Parliament.
- He joins other Tory MPs Sarah Wollaston, Justine Greening, Anna Soubry, and Philip Lee.
LONDON — Guto Bebb has become the fifth Conservative MP to officially announce support for the People's Vote campaign.
Bebb, the Conservative MP for Aberconwy and former defence minister, joins Tory MPs Sarah Wollaston, Justine Greening, Anna Soubry, and Philip Lee, who back the idea of giving the British people a referendum on the final deal.
As a campaign, the movement is growing. Polls have shown an increase in support across the country, and in Parliament.
Bebb is expected to officially announce his support at 2 p.m. today at the People's Vote Wales rally at the Glee Club in Cardiff.
In a speech Bebb will say how he voted to remain and accepted the final result, but Brexit is not being delivered by the Prime Minister effectively.
"With the hardline Brexiters threatening to vote down any deal, and a deal is crucial for jobs and business, we now face gridlock in parliament, and the growing risk of a disastrous no deal Brexit," he is expected to say.
"I resigned from the Government because I could not, in good conscience, support amendments offered by the ERG group, which were not in the best interests of the people I was sent to Westminster to represent. They were, as the ERG acknowledge, a deliberate attempt to undermine the Prime Minister and our negotiations with the EU."
Like several other MPs, Bebb will announce that supporting the People's Vote campaign is a move to stop hard Brexit advocates to "holding the Government to ransom." They are also against the idea of a "no deal" scenario.
"We need a People's Vote on the terms of Brexit to ensure that a Brexit deal, if secured, represents the needs of people in Wales and the UK and not the narrow interests of a Westminster based group of ideological purists," Bebb will say.
"I will continue to support the PM whilst she strives to secure a deal but she needs the backstop of popular support - not the 40 votes of jobs-destroying no deal Brexit MPs. That's why I'll be campaigning for a final decision on the deal to be a decision made by the people not politicians."
Wollaston joined the campaign last month, despite originally supporting Vote Leave.
"Consequences must follow," she told the House of Commons. "We cannot have confidence that this referendum was secure and it should be rerun."
Dominic Grieve has also hinted at supporting another referendum.
The People's Vote movement already includes Labour's Chuka Umunna and Sir Vince Cable. Amber Rudd, Nicky Morgan, and Antoinette Sandbach are also rumoured to be considering joining.