Robin Walker, Worcester’s MP and one of the government ministers charged with delivering a Brexit deal is not in favour of a second referendum.

And he thinks that former UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s sort-of call for a second referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave the EU shows him not to be ‘a serious politician’.

Mr Farage said last week he was ‘coming round’ to thinking a second in-out referendum: “Maybe, just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership. I think that if we had a second referendum on EU membership, we would kill it off for a generation.”

He later wrote he didn’t want another poll, but was warning Brexit supporters they might need to be prepared for one.

Mr Walker, the parliamentary Under-secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the EU said: “I’ve been the one to speak in Parliament on this issue, so my views are well known, but I don’t want a second referendum.

“Some people like to pretend that the first referendum came out of the blue, when in fact it followed 40 years of debate after the 1975 referendum, and in that time our relationship with the EU had changed significantly.

“The decision has been made and it’s now part of my job to make sure that we deliver Brexit successfully.”

Mr Walker added: “I think raising this again shows Nigel Farage is not a serious politician, whose never won an election to Parliament; this is just punditry on his part.”

That assessment was shared by Councillor Adrian Gregson, speaking not as leader of Worcester City Council but as one of the city’s leading Labour politicians. He said: “I haven’t really thought about it because I don’t expect it to happen, this is just a publicity stunt by Nigel Farage really.

“I’m comfortable with the national labour Party position which is a decision has been made and it doesn’t help to mess around now. Its important that we make it work for everyone now, which I don’t think is happening and that we look at the final deal.”

Tasked with developing that final deal, Robin Walker said he didn’t believe a referendum on it would help, saying: “What would be the incentive for the EU to agree a good deal then?There’d be no inventive for them to go for a win-win situation; rather a terrible deal for the UK which we’d then reject. It wouldn’t help at all.”

The Worcester News tried to contact Worcester UKIP but was unable to get a response.

The UKIP national position is that it would oppose a second referendum.

It’s leader Henry Bolton said: "I am convinced that the Leave side would win a second referendum, with an even larger majority than before. None the less, to hold such a referendum would be to call into question the decisive importance of the largest democratic exercise ever held by this country and the unambiguous mandate the people gave the government on that day - the mandate take us out of the European Union."

A spokesman for Worcestershire for Europe said: “Last week, a former UKIP leader raised the subject of a second or indeed, third referendum. 

“The referendum of June 2016 was characterized by much misinformation, leaving a divided, less inclusive society.

“A democracy requires informed consent and this was sadly lacking in the 2016 referendum. We believe a repeat of that experience would be damaging.

“When the outcomes of the Brexit negotiations are clear, the decision on whether to accept the deal or remain members of the EU should be made in either a parliamentary vote or by an informed public.

“We are confident that as the realities of Brexit become clearer, the British people will decide conclusively that it is in the national interest to remain in the EU.

“We wish to see the UK retain its current status as a sovereign country, sharing challenges and benefits with our friends, allies and partners, whilst enjoying the peace the EU has brought us over the last 60 years.”