Theresa May warns second referendum would drag on for more than a YEAR as she torpedoes People’s Vote campaign

Civil servants have drawn up a paper designed to convinced pro-EU MPs a second referendum is now impossible

MINISTERS today made a bid to shoot down anti-Brexit plotters - by warning a second referendum will take a year to prepare.

No10 has told Europhile MPs a re-run of the Brexit vote couldn't come before 2020.

It's the first time Theresa May's officials have admitted modelling how a second referendum could be delivered.

The revelation came as the PM summoned senior politicians from across the parties for talks on how to break the Brexit deadlock.

She asked civil servants to produce a briefing document explaining how long a second referendum would take.

Anti-Brexit MPs were then given the paper in a bid to convince them that holding a fresh vote is effectively impossible.

It states that Parliament would take seven months just to pass the legislation needed to lay the ground for a referendum, .

Then electoral watchdogs would spend 12 weeks ensuring the question is fair before the Commons and Lords can sign off on it.

Finally, the campaign period itself must be at least 10 weeks long, and could take up to four months.

That suggests the earliest date for a possible referendum would be March 2020 - nearly a year after we are due to quit the EU.

The timetable was blasted by pro-Remain Tory MP Phillip Lee, who said it was "bulls**t" and insisted a second referendum could be one in seven weeks.

A No10 spokesman said: "In order to inform the discussions a very short paper set out in factual detail the number of months which would be required.

MOST READ IN POLITICS