Richard Branson has congratulated Prime Minister Theresa May for “standing up” to the “extreme right-wing” of her party by stopping a clean Brexit, saying he would “dearly love” a second referendum.

The billionaire businessman who lives on a private island told Reuters, “I take my hat off to Theresa May for standing up to her extreme right-wing and not allowing a no-deal Brexit to happen because I think that would have done irreparable damage to Great Britain and a lot of damage to Europe, as well.”

“Obviously I just dearly would love to see another referendum,” he added, explaining that the largest democratic mandate in British history should be overturned — even before it has been implemented — because many Brexit voters “are no longer” and because “a lot of young people now can vote.”

Other EU fanatics have celebrated the deaths of older Brexit voters — the loss considered a reason to have another vote — most recently, the devout atheist Richard Dawkins who said the Brexit delay to Halloween allowed “more time for young voters… to come of age” and “more time for Leave voters to drop off their nostalgic perch.”

‘I just dearly would love to see another referendum,’ says UK billionaire @richardbranson talks #Brexit in @Reuters interview pic.twitter.com/I1XUiMKeN3 — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 18, 2019

Mr Branson continued, “They [young people] want to be part of Europe.”

“They want to be able to live and work and play in any European country, they don’t want to just be confined to Britain,” he added, apparently not considering that people can still travel and work in foreign countries without the need for Freedom of Movement.

“Six-months, is it time for another referendum? Just. I just hope Theresa May is brave enough to allow another referendum and to allow the British public to decide, based on facts, their future.”

In 2017, Breitbart London reported that Mr Branson donated £25,000 to a campaign aimed at ousting pro-Brexit MPs in the general election.

He also made the extraordinary claim in December 2018 that a clean, no deal Brexit “would be more damaging to Great Britain than almost the Second World War.”