Former Birmingham MP Gisela Stuart, chair of the successful "leave" campaign in the EU referendum, has accused MPs of deliberately trying to overturn the result.

Responding to recent House of Commons votes, she said: "MPs at Westminster are still fighting the outcome of the June 2016 referendum as well as Mrs May and her government’s current deal which purports to implement it."

And she said MPs were really trying to ignore the result of the 2016 referendum - but most of them won't admit it.

She said: "Procedures and debates are used as a proxy for attempting to overturn the referendum result. Leaving is too difficult or just impossible, it is said.

"Only a few MPs are prepared to state directly what they believe – too many claiming they respect the result while campaigning for another referendum or doing their best to limit what they perceive to be the damage caused by the public’s mistake in voting to Leave."

She made the comments after MPs voted for an amendment proposed by anti-Brexit Tory backbencher Dominic Grieve, which may give the House of Commons the power to decide what happens if Theresa May's proposed Brexit deal is rejected.

Boris Johnson and Gisela Stuart during the Brexit referendum campaign

In practice, it's thought the decision will allow MPs to reject a "no-deal" Brexit.

And MPs also voted that the Government was in "contempt" of Parliament, after it initially refused to publish legal advice about Brexit.

Mrs Stuart was the chair of the official vote leave campaign in 2016.

Writing in The House Magazine, she said there was little evidence that most voters now want to stay in the EU.

"The 29 months since the referendum on our membership of the European Union have produced muddle, exhaustion, anger and confusion at Westminster, but there is little evidence that the voters have significantly changed their minds."

Labour MP Gisela Stuart and co-chair of Vote LEAVE talks to the media before the final voting results are announced forecasting leave winning the EU referendum
Former Labour MP and co-chair of Vote Leave Gisela Stuart on the day of the referendum

But MPs couldn't bring themselves to accept the result, she said.

"Even after hard fought elections, the focus is usually on reaching consensus to govern. Not so since 2016.

"MPs are clearly struggling with the public’s vote to Leave.

"It wasn’t what they expected. Westminster has played a merry dance, talking to itself and negotiating with each other. They are opposing the electorate as they would oppose another political party."

Mrs Stuart said: "Yes, this is difficult. But in what other profession is the claim that something is difficult accepted as a reason for not doing your job.

"There is still time to get this right, but MPs have to decide now if when they say they are respecting the result of the referendum they mean what they say."