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Business leaders are calling for a final say on Brexit, with a majority of firms backing a second referendum that would give voters a choice between Theresa May's deal and staying in the EU.
A campaign group called Business for a People's Vote, launched on Thursday, said that 57% of firms are in favor of a second referendum, according to a new YouGov poll, with support building day by day.
Sir Mike Rake, the chair of BT, Justin King, the chief executive of Sainsbury's, and Lord Karan Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra beer, were among those fronting the group.
Rake said it was clear that it was unlikely to be a big deal when it came time to talk about it. voted to leave the EU.
"In 28 months [since the Brexit vote] we've almost got nowhere, "Rake said. "We're already seeing the job, the loss of influence we're starting to experience right across the world … it's time to go back to the people."
King said the current choice facing the British public was "bad Brexit gold has disastrous Brexit". The former boss of Sainsbury's added: "This time around is a choice between the best Brexit the prime minister has been able to negotiate and a different decision. If anything, the democratic deficit is that we did not actually have a vote.
Campaigners believe that despite the Prime Minister's insistence that it would be no second referendum, it would be possible if parliament votes down her Brexit deal.
The YouGov poll of more than 1,000 business leaders revealed that support for a people's vote is strongest among large businesses, at 59%. Backing among small and medium-sized firms was 54%.
Tom Meyerratken, managing director of Wales-based hand tool manufacturer Carl Kammerling, who has an 80m turnover, said the Brexit vote had already affected the firm.
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Meyerratken said plans to expand its warehouse in Pwllheli were put on hold after the Brexit referendum. The company is now expanding in Germany instead. "This is the real economy, real people, real jobs," he said.
Bilimoria, who has built Cobra into a household name, said the Brexit process was like "watching a train crash in slow motion. People are now waking up and seeing that this emperor has no clothes. It's happening day by day. "
However, Richard Tice, co-chair of the group Leave Means Leave, dismissed the call for a people's vote.
He said: "Business leaders whingeing about uncertainty are the same people calling for a second vote, which would take a year, make us look ridiculous as a nation and thus add hugely to more global uncertainty."
