Why Dominic Cummings’ 2nd referendum warning ought to worry No 10

Dominic Cummings has set the cat among the pigeons this afternoon by leaking a Parliamentary report into fake news ahead of its official publication on Sunday. The Vote Leave official alleges that the report ‘knowingly/incompetently makes false claims’ on supposed misuses of data during the referendum campaign. Expect further reaction to this over the weekend. However, the part of the blog that has got people talking in Westminster most avidly today relates to his comments on calls for a second referendum. Following increased chatter in recent weeks from Remain-ers over the need for a second vote on Brexit – whether on the terms of the final deal or leaving the EU full stop – Cummings has warned these campaigns to be careful what they wish for. He says that if there is a second referendum, not only will Vote Leave (reincarnated) win it by a higher margin than the last referendum, they will also consider forming a new political party and then taking power so that they can actually ‘implement the promises we made in the referendum’ this time around:

‘If your side gets its way and there is another referendum, Vote Leave 2 will be much much worse for your side than VL1 was.