Spanish PM calls for a second Brexit vote

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged his British counterpart to consider a second referendum on Brexit calling the vote to leave “great loss” for both parties.

“If I was Theresa May, I would call a second referendum — no doubt,” Sanchez told Politico in an interview published on Sunday.

Sanchez has become the highest EU leader to date to call on the UK to rethink it’s to leave the EU.

“It’s true that we’re now on the verge of signing a transition deal,” he said.

“(But) I’d like to see the British government calling a second referendum. I don’t mean now, but in the future, so it can come back to the EU. In another way, but back in the EU,” he added

For the Spanish Prime Minister, Britain is a “marvellous country” which has had a “positive influence” on European politics, but the Brexit vote showed that it had strayed on to a path of “self-absorption which isn’t going to be good for either the UK or for Europe.”

“I believe it’s a great loss for both and I hope it can be reconsidered in the future, he said.

In his interview with Politico, Sanchez welcomed the deal agreed between the EU and the UK to protect citizens’ rights.

“I appreciate and thank very much Prime Minister May’s commitment to safeguarding those rights,” he said.

“We will do the same with the 300,000 Britons who’re in Spain.”