31 August 2016, RTE.

British prime minister Theresa May has set her face firmly against a second referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, telling cabinet colleagues that “Brexit means Brexit” and there will be no attempt to stay in the EU “by the back door”.

Ms May was speaking at her country retreat Chequers as cabinet met for the first time after the summer break.

As work continues on preparations for withdrawal negotiations, each cabinet member has been told to use the meeting to set out what opportunities leaving the EU presents for their department.

Speaking at the start of the all-day meeting, Ms May said: “We’ll be looking at the next steps that we need to take, and we’ll also be looking at the opportunities that are now open to us as we forge a new role for the UK in the world.

“We must continue to be very clear that ‘Brexit means Brexit’, that we’re going to make a success of it. That means there’s no second referendum; no attempts to sort of stay in the EU by the back door; that we’re actually going to deliver on this.”

It appears increasingly likely that Ms May will not seek parliament’s approval before formally triggering Article 50, which will kick off a two-year period of exit negotiations between the UK and the EU.

Number 10 has insisted there is “no legal obligation” for Ms May to consult parliament before invoking the Article.

The comments leave open the possibility that negotiations could be launched without the approval of MPs being sought and parliament could debate the issue without a formal vote taking place.

Ms May is also expected to use the cabinet meeting to compare Tory party unity with the turmoil within the Labour Party, despite reports of an ongoing feud between the ministers in charge of the main Brexit departments: Boris Johnson, Liam Fox and David Davis.

The cabinet meeting at Chequers has prompted the SNP to accuse the government of showing “breathtaking complacency”.

The party’s European affairs spokesman Stephen Gethins said: “It is over two months since the result of the Brexit referendum and ministers are only now being asked to come up with their ideas about how it might work at a ‘country house away day’.

“This is breathtaking complacency from a government that got us all into this mess in the first place.”