A FORMER government minister has told the Daily Echo that Brexit was “Grandma’s worst ever Christmas present” because older people voted to take away the rights of the young.

Lord Willetts, who was universities minister under David Cameron, also said the public could look forward to Brexit dominating the agenda “morning, noon and night” for a decade unless it was called off.

And he predicted that Dorset’s financial services employers, including JP Morgan, would direct future jobs to mainland Europe after Brexit.

The peer, who as David Willetts was MP for Havant until 2015, is a co-founder of the Right to Vote campaign, which wants a final vote before Britain leaves the EU.

It commissioned a poll suggesting 58 per cent of people in Bournemouth West want a “final vote” before Brexit happens, along with 57 per cent in Bournemouth East.

Support stood at 54 per cent in South Dorset, 54 per cent in Mid-Dorset and North Poole, 53 per cent in Poole, 53 per cent in New Forest West, 51 per cent in North Dorset and 49 per cent in Christchurch.

Lord Willetts said voters should have a final opportunity to give “informed consent” to Brexit.

“As the whole thing has got bogged down in the House of Commons, given that we’ve got stalemate in the Commons, we think it’s right to go back to the people,” he said.

He said the debates which have raged over the past three years should have been had ahead of the 2016 referendum. “I think there should have been a much longer, full public debate about what the implications were, especially for a younger generation. I know the age mix of the population in Bournemouth but there must be many grandparents whose grandchildren voted remain,” he said.

He said older people, who mainly supported Brexit, had voted to remove younger people’s right to travel and work freely.

“Brexit was Grandma’s worst ever Christmas present. They thought they were doing it for their kids and grandchildren but it’s the opposite of what they want. They’re not going to be able to move freely in Europe,” he said.

Right to Vote was founded by a group of Conservatives, including three MPs who have since joined the Change UK – the Independent Group.

Lord Willetts said a vote should be held once people knew what Brexit would look like. “While the prime minister has been, in many ways, heroic, when she says ‘Brexit means Brexit’, that’s the opposite of the case," he said.

"For some people, it means staying in the single market, the customs union, with many of the close trading partnerships with Europe we now have,” he said.

“Other people say we must completely cut ties, we’re going to have different regulations but we will trade more with America and China and it will all be fine. Those are two very different kinds of Brexit so it doesn’t have a single meaning.”

He said those who were tired of the arguments should be aware that negotiations with trading partners would take years.

“They found the first referendum painful enough, they don’t want to go through it a second time. What I say is look, the Brexit process is going to take a decade,” he said.

“It’s going to be Brexit, Brexit, Brexit, morning noon and night for 10 years.”

He also raised concerns about the effect on the financial services industry which employs thousands of people in Dorset.

“JP Morgan are not going to say things publicly but it’s a reality that although the City will remain a significant sector, over the years to come, Dublin, Amsterdam and Frankfurt will gain at our expense,” he said.