Jo Johnson resigns as minister over Brexit

Jo Johnson has resigned as transport minister over Brexit, saying the deal being finalised "will be a terrible mistake".

Johnson, brother of former foreign secretary Boris, said of his resignation as transport minister: "It has become increasingly clear to me that the Withdrawal Agreement, which is being finalised in Brussels and Whitehall even as I write, will be a terrible mistake."

The proposed deal "will leave our country economically weakened, with no say in the EU rules it must follow and years of uncertainty for business" but the alternative is a no-deal Brexit which "will inflict untold damage on our nation".

Calling for a second referendum he said: "Given that the reality of Brexit has turned out to be so far from what was once promised, the democratic thing to do is to give the public the final say.

"This would not be about re-running the 2016 referendum, but about asking people whether they want to go ahead with Brexit now that we know the deal that is actually available to us, whether we should leave without any deal at all or whether people on balance would rather stick with the deal we already have inside the European Union."