Campaigner sets out his case for fresh Referendum vote

Andrew Bannerman, said the current withdrawal agreement being proposed by Prime Minister Theresa May would leave the country worse off.

He said: "Many of us voted to leave the EU in 2016 because we were told we would be better off. In the light of what we now know about the proposed withdrawal agreement it is clear that this will not be the case. We therefore have a democratic right to tell our leaders what we now think will be best for this country."

Across Shropshire a majority of voters backed Brexit in the referendum but Mr Bannerman said: "Even before the draft agreement was published, local and national polling showed the tide had already turned against Brexit in Shrewsbury.

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"Polls, both our own and nationally, suggest there is now a national majority for staying in the EU and renewing our seat at the top table in Europe, rather than risk a less prosperous future, less able to tackle the big issues of our day, that require international collective action, such as terrorism, mass migration and climate change."

He added: "At Open Britain we are dedicated to promoting clear objective analysis based on facts, and we are advocating a referendum on the final deal, so that an informed democratic decision can be made on what is in the national interest.

"Consider some of the claims made to support the Brexit campaign.They said we would be better off out:

"Most economists, financiers and business people expect that the economic damage caused by Brexit will hit tax revenue, dwarfing any contribution to the EU budget.

"That means there’ll be less money for the NHS, not more.

"Everyone except extreme Brexiteers agrees that a ‘No Deal’ Brexit would be catastrophic.

"They said we are run by Brussels: The UK Parliament is already sovereign; the UK has voted for 98 per cent of EU legislation."

Inequality

Calling on the county's MPs to back calls for a new vote he added: "The real issues of this country are gross inequality, resulting in pockets of deprivation among the worst in Europe, poor infrastructure, unequal education and low productivity. These are national issues rather than EU issues and will be made worse by Brexit.

"European peace, security and prosperity is not guaranteed by Nato, but by the EU. We have privileged access to the largest free trade area in the world and freedom of movement to live, work, study, travel, retire and do business anywhere across 27 countries.

"Geography matters. We are linked culturally as well as economically with our neighbours. The EU values our historic contribution to Europe. Our influence in the world is far greater within the EU than outside it. We achieve more together than we can ever do on our own.

"We believe it is essential that our MPs support a People’s Vote, to enable us, the electorate, to finish what we started, to restore democratic due process."

He urged supporters of the idea of a second referendum to write to their MP at House of Commons and tell them how they felt.