Portsmouth MP vows to lead city's campaign for public vote on final Brexit deal and says: 'I will vote to remain'

The call from the Labour MP for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, comes after the Supreme Court this week ruled prime minister Boris Johnson’s recent suspension of Parliament was unlawful.

MPs returned to the House of Commons after the ruling, prompting a heated debate in which one MP said Parliament was ‘dead’ and it had ‘no moral right’ to sit on the house’s green benches.

In a letter this morning penned to The News, Mr Morgan said Westminster is ‘in paralysis’ and vowed to lead Portsmouth’s campaign if a ‘people’s vote’ on Brexit took place.

‘[Westminster] has no oxygen for the important issues our city needs tackling, which is why I believe that Brexit can only be resolved, once-and-for-all, by the people,’ Mr Morgan wrote.

‘When we can’t trust the PM we must trust the people to determine what happens next.

‘That’s why I’m demanding that the final deal to leave the EU is put back to you for a final say when the facts are known.

‘This week Labour at its conference decided to back a people’s vote in all circumstances. This is the democratic thing to do and [we are] the only party to do so.

‘In that people’s vote I will lead the campaign in Portsmouth and personally vote to remain because I believe that being part of a large economic trading block gives us the best chance of prosperity in our city, protects our environment and is the best future for our children.

‘It also allows Britain to punch above its weight and have more influence in a changing world.’

More than three years have now passed since the public voted in favour of Britain leaving the European Union.

But if another vote took place setting out the exact terms of the nation’s departure, Mr Morgan said public opinion would be honoured.

‘Whatever the outcome, leave or remain, I will abide by the result and work hard to make it happen,’ he said.

Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative MP for Portsmouth North, yesterday urged Parliament not to ‘let down’ the public over Brexit – branding remainers' acceptance of the EU referendum ‘one of the greatest acts of patriotism shown over the last few years’.

In an impassioned contribution in the Commons, she asked the prime minister: ‘The general public never doubted we in this place would act on their wishes; that is the trust they had and, I think, still have in all of us here and this Parliament.

‘Does my right hon. Friend agree that when people trust you in this way, you do not let them down?’

Mr Johnson replied: ‘They want us to deliver Brexit on October 31 and I urge colleagues around the House to think of their responsibilities.’