The UK must now revoke Article 50 to fight the threat of a no-deal Brexit, Chuka Umunna has said.
“We are now at a point where we are going to need to revoke Article 50,” the Change UK spokesman told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday.
“At the beginning of these European election campaigns we had time to provide for a People’s Vote on what happens on Brexit,” he continued, saying a second referendum would take “at least” five to six months.
“We now no longer have the time to do that by the 31st of October, when we are due to crash out, so we need to stop the clock now to allow that to happen.”
Meanwhile, Umunna said that Tory leadership candidates hoping to take Theresa May’s place at Number 10 had been “falling over themselves to say they will take us out – come what may – in October without a deal”.
“So faced with that – no deal or revocation – you have got to revoke,” he said.
In a tweet, the former Labour MP added: “Revoking Article 50 is now necessary in the face of the growing threat of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit disaster.
“This is a national emergency and we must stop the clock so we have time & space for a People’s Vote.”
But Lib Dem leader Vince Cable – whose party is also calling for a second referendum – said there was still enough time for a public vote on Brexit before the EU’s Halloween deadline for the UK to leave.
He told Marr that his party would back May’s withdrawal agreement bill next month – as long as there was a confirmatory vote attached to it.
“It could be done before October,” Cable told the show.
Writing in the Sunday Times, the prime minister said a “new and improved” Brexit deal would be put before MPs at the start of June, calling it a “bold offer”.