Supporters of a second referendum should be careful what they wish for

The campaign for a second referendum continues to grow. On the Conservative side, nearly a dozen Tory MPs now support a ‘People’s Vote’ and if Theresa May’s deal gets voted down, this number is likely to rise further. Among Labour MPs, support is even greater; if it wasn’t for Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, it seems safe to say that a second vote would almost certainly be Labour party policy by now, with the SNP and the Lib Dems also on board with the idea. But a question remains: have those calling for a second vote really thought about the possible consequences?

It is clear that many of those campaigning for another referendum have a simple objective: to block Brexit. But this could easily end up backfiring. Take the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Its principle legacy was arguably to create a solid lump of convinced independence voters throughout Scotland. The nationalists might have lost but, a year later in the 2015 general election, the SNP performed well: Nicola Sturgeon’s party managed to achieve 50 per cent of the popular vote and 56 of 59 parliamentary seats. It’s