- Is second referendum on the cards?
The U.K. is set to leave the EU in March 2019. However, the transition period in which the U.K. will continue to be a part of the single market and the Customs Union is expected to last through December 2020.
Nonetheless, George Soros is set to launch a campaign to secure a second Brexit referendum to save the U.K. from “immense damage,” the Hungarian-American philanthropist and financier announced in Paris last Tuesday.
According to media reports, he invested £500 thousand in this campaign begging the question if Soros is a bad investor or a visionary?
Soros, 87, founder of the Open Society Foundation, will work with the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign to change the minds of the British public and convince them that EU membership is in their best interests, he said in a speech. The campaign, to be launched in the next few days, aims to secure a second Brexit referendum within a year.
“Brexit is an immensely damaging process, harmful to both sides ... Divorce will be a long process, probably taking more than five years,” Soros said, calling this period "an eternity in politics, especially in revolutionary times like the present”.
“Ultimately, it’s up to the British people to decide what they want to do. It would be better, however, if they came to a decision sooner rather than later. That’s the goal of an initiative called Best for Britain, which I support,” he added.
Best for Britain was set up shortly after the 2016 EU referendum and has successfully managed to lobby MPs in parliament to vote against the government’s proposed EU withdrawal bill and introduce amendments, such as staying in the single market and Customs Union while ensuring that March 2019 is not deemed as the official exit date.
The government was defeated 17 times in the House of Lords, parliament’s upper chamber when it brought the EU withdrawal bill to vote. It is expected to face the same fate when the bill reaches the House of Commons.
It will be interesting to see if the campaign is successful in triggering a wave of public support to keep the U.K. in the European Union.
