Donald Tusk to UK: EU ‘hearts are still open’ to Brexit halt

The European Council president’s comments follow calls in the UK for a second referendum on Brexit.

EU “hearts are still open,” to the U.K. reversing the Brexit vote, European Council President Donald Tusk told MEPs in Strasbourg Tuesday.

His sentiments were backed up by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said in a speech to the European Parliament that “Our door still remains open and I hope that will be heard clearly in London.”

In his speech, Tusk said Brexit is set to become a reality “unless there is a change of heart among our British friends.” But he said the Brexit course was not a foregone conclusion. “As David Davis said: If a democracy can not change its mind it ceases to be a democracy,” Tusk said, referring to a speech in 2012 by the U.K.’s Brexit secretary, who was a backbench MP at the time. “Our hearts are still open to you,” he said.

The comments in Strasbourg follow growing speculation in the U.K. that the country could organize another referendum on the eventual Brexit deal.

Earlier this month, Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader, said he supported a second referendum to end the “whinging and whining” of anti-Brexit campaigners — although he later modified his position to say that Brexiteers needed to be prepared for a second vote.

In an interview with the Guardian, leading Brexiteer and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson dismissed the prospect of a second referendum. “We’ve just had one, and I think it went pretty well but it was something that caused an awful lot of heartache and soul-searching, and everybody went through the wringer on it,” he said. “I’m not convinced that the public is absolutely gagging for another Brexit referendum.”

Labour MP Ian Murray, a supporter of the Open Britain campaign said: “Until we’ve actually left, Brexit is a reversible process, that much is clear. If people decide that Brexit isn’t the right path for the country, they have the right to change their minds.”