Manchester United legend Gary Neville has slammed Owen Smith’s plans to seek a fresh public vote on Brexit
One of England's most-capped international footballers has slammed Labour's Owen Smith for vowing to fight Brexit without a fresh vote.
Former England and Manchester United great Gary Neville blasted Smith after the Pontypridd MP said he would seek to block any attempt to take the UK out of the EU without a fresh referendum or a general election.
Smith said that failing to do so would amount to writing the UK government “a blank cheque” on its negotiations with the EU.
However, Neville – who amassed a total of 85 games for England – said such a move would come at the cost of democracy, and risk ignoring the 52 per cent of referendum voters who backed Brexit.
I wish we could stay in but not at the cost of " Democracy ". 17m people voted leave Owen . Not half a dozen!! https://t.co/Z7TLGppWv1
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) August 24, 2016
The former footballer is an avowed Labour backer and was among the sports stars to back a Remain vote.
His former Manchester United team-mate David Beckham also supported Britain inside the EU, although Brexit also had its own sporting supporters, including former England cricketer Ian Botham.