Change UK leader suggests no-deal should be on People’s Vote ballot

Heidi Allen, the party’s interim leader, said she felt that the choice should be offered to voters as to some people it represents a ‘clean Brexit’ – but said an option to ‘remain as we are’ must also be included.

In an interview with The House magazine, Allen said she has ‘some sympathy’ for allowing a no-deal option on the ballot paper in a second referendum.

‘The Electoral Commission would have a view about how it might split the vote or whether it might artificially give advantage in one direction or the other,’ she said.

‘That’s the argument people say, ‘well, you’ll be splitting the vote if it’s the leaving deal or the no-deal’. If that is the conclusion, then clearly, we can’t have that.

‘But I feel like we should be offering no-deal because to some people that is clean Brexit. But one thing I am without doubt 100% clear on is that ‘remain as we are’ has to be on the ballot paper because that’s what we’re comparing. We’re in it, versus whatever the brave new world might look like.’

Allen said the party should not be just about one issue and that she wants to deal with welfare, education and other ‘really important stuff’ – rather than simply focus on Brexit.

She said: ‘Brexit is a massive, massive issue, but it cannot be everything that we’re about.

‘I want to get onto the exciting stuff, I want to sort welfare out, I want to deal with education, I want to get some proper funding in my schools.

‘I want to get onto all that other stuff, but Brexit, as it is with everything in life, is just stalling and stopping us from getting onto the really important stuff.’