Sadiq Khan Says PM Should Have Revoked Article 50 Rather Than Agree Brexit Delay

11 April 2019, 12:28 | Updated: 11 April 2019, 13:03

Sadiq Khan has told LBC that Theresa May should have stopped the Brexit clock rather than agree to a further extension.

The Mayor of London also said that the British public should be given a final say on Brexit with a so-called People's Vote.

The Prime Minister has agreed a delay to Brexit until Halloween after EU leaders offered another extension to Article 50 at a late-night Brussels summit.

In the early hours of the morning, leaders of the remaining 27 EU member states decided to give the prime minister an extra six and a half months in which to break the Brexit deadlock at Westminster.

Under the terms of the extension, if Mrs May finally gets her withdrawal agreement approved by the House of Commons before the 31st October, the UK could leave the EU earlier than that date.

During the Mayor's regular fixure Speak to Sadiq, James O'Brien asked the Mayor of London about the latest Brexit developments.

The Mayor said: "What the Prime Minister should have done is stop the clock, just take away all the panic by withdrawing Article 50, and we could have then - with cool calm heads - reached a decision.

"Nobody would serve a notice to quit as a tenant of a property, without having another property to go to.

"And what Theresa May should have done is first work out what sort of relationship we want with the European Union, what will the future terms of that deal be, and once we knew that, once we were comfortable with that, then serve the notice to quit with a maximum of two years and we could have left before then."

When James asked where the Mayor stood on a second referendum, Sadiq Khan said that he thought we were "a million miles away from the promises made during the referendum campaign", and in these circumstances the British public should be given a final say.

He suggested that May's proposed deal could be put alongside the option to remain on the ballot paper.

In response to the suggestion that it could be 'undemocractic', the Mayor said: "I can't think of anything more democratic than to giving people a say".

Sadiq Khan expressed that we now know what the terms of exit would be, and could decide between this and the option of remaining in the European Union.