Brexit campaigner and Member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage delivers a speech during a debate on BREXIT after the vote on british Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain would again decide to leave the European Union if a second referendum were to be held on membership of the bloc, former United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said on Wednesday, adding the “leave” vote would be even bigger.

In 2016, Britain voted in a referendum to leave the 28-nation EU, but the British parliament on Tuesday decisively rejected a withdrawal treaty negotiated with Brussels over two years. Some British parliamentarians want a second referendum, believing it would show Britons now wanted to stay.

“The British may be a very placid people, very laid back but I promise you: if they get pushed too far it’s a lion that will roar. We will be even more defiant if we have to fight a second referendum and we will win it by a bigger majority,” Farage said.