“We’ve been hurtling towards a blindfolded Brexit for too long, so it’s about time that politicians hand back control to the people of this country by giving them the final say on Brexit with the option to stay and lead in Europe.”

The shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, said: “Jo Johnson is the 18th minister to resign from Theresa May’s government. In a resignation statement on Friday, Mr Johnson, who is the brother of former foreign secretary and leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson, argued Britain was "on the brink of the greatest crisis" since World War Two, saying what was on offer wasn't "anything like what was promised". He said the public were being offered “an agreement that will leave our country economically weakened, with no say in the EU rules it must follow and years of uncertainty for business” or a no-deal Brexit “that I know as a transport minister will inflict untold damage on our nation”. "It has become increasingly clear to me that the withdrawal agreement, which is being finalized in Brussels and Whitehall even as I write, will be a terrible mistake," said Jo Johnson, who was a transport minister in the government. “To present the nation with a choice between two deeply unattractive outcomes, vassalage and chaos, is a failure of British statecraft on a scale unseen since the Suez crisis.”

He added: “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.”

Boris Johnson backed his brother’s decision, saying: “We may not have agreed about Brexit but we are united in dismay at the intellectually and politically indefensible of the UK position.”

Jo Johnson acknowledged that the Brexit negotiations “have at least united us in fraternal dismay”. Labour’s shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, said Johnson was the 18th minister to quit May’s Tory government, adding: “She has lost all authority and is incapable of negotiating a Brexit deal within her own party, let alone with the EU.”

His resignation follows that of high profile Tories such as David Davis, his brother Boris, and Steve Baker who all fell out with the PM over her Chequers Brexit proposal.
British MP Jo Johnson resigns as transport minister over Theresa May's Brexit plan and calls for a second referendum.