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MP gets under the skin of Theresa May with question on democracy
Theresa May responds to a question from Caroline Lucas in the House of Commons (Photograph: Parliament TV) - Credit: Archant
A question from Caroline Lucas on the 'will of the people' has infuriated the prime minister, who insists she's acting on the country's behalf with Brexit.
The prime minister was forced to dismiss the Green MP's question as 'absolutely ridiculous' when she told her that opinion had changed on Brexit.
Lucas was responding to May's claim that voting down the government's deal 'risks no Brexit at all'.
She asked: 'Does she recognise that far from being a risk, recent polls show that people - actually a vast majority of people - would like no Brexit at all.
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'In order to save jobs, protect the environment, and ensure our standing in the world.
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'So will she acknowledge that the will of the people can change, the will of the people HAS changed, and will she therefore think that the way forward is a People's Vote or does she think democracy ended on the 23rd of June 2016?'
Lucas was referring to polling data like the latest from Survation for Channel 4 which found 54% of voters now backed staying in the EU.
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As May shook her head and pulled an unimpressed face she rose to her feet to denounce it as 'absolutely ridiculous'.
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She said: 'This parliament gave people the right to choose whether to remain in the European Union or to leave the European Union.
People exercised that vote, we saw numbers of people voting that we had not seen before; it was a great exercise in democracy in this country, and I believe that gave this parliament an instruction: we should ensure that we leave the European Union as the people voted.'
May told the Commons that despite suggesting there could be 'no Brexit' at all, she assured ex-minister Esther McVey that the UK will leave the EU on 29 March 2019.
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