If people are really sick of Brexit then “they should get shot of Brexit”, David Miliband, the former foreign secretary has said.

Mr Miliband has made several high-profile recent interventions on Brexit as the date of Britain’s exit inches ever nearer.

“The truth about Brexit is two fold,” he told the Hay literary festival on Saturday. “One, it is squeezing the life out of politics and its ability to address precisely the concerns that drove people to vote for Brexit in the first place.

“There is no legislation on social care, there is no legislation on housing and homelessness, there’s not even legislation on immigration.

“Brexit is squeezing the life out of the social and economic reform that the country desperately needs.

“People often say to me ‘Yeah, but look people are sick of Brexit and we just need to get on with it’, my point is if you’re really sick of Brexit you need to get shot of Brexit.

Mr Miliband said that he would take part in any campaign to vote against the terms of any Brexit deal in comments which demonstrated his implacable opposition to the UK leaving the European Union.

He was asked at the Hay literary festival on Saturday whether, if there was a referendum on the nature of Brexit, he would be part of a campaign to reject it.

“Of course,” he said. “I tried to campaign last time, I hope I’d campaign more effectively next time.”

His comments came the day after a further group of Labour backbenchers rebelled against the leadership to demand a second referendum on the Brexit deal, in a letter to The Independent.

He also said that Jeremy Corbyn should back the idea of a "Norway model" for Britain after Brexit.

The Labour leader should allow his MPs to vote for a European Economic Area (EEA) deal, that would provide a "safe harbour" in a world that has markedly changed since the 2016 referendum.

Mr Miliband said that the EEA would allow concerns over immigration to be addressed because it allowed for an "emergency brake" on migrants.

"We are 708 days from the referendum and Britain still does not have a negotiating position on the most basic elements of our relationship with Europe after Brexit,” he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday.

"I would say the Labour Party had a position on the customs union but not on the single market. I think it would be very wise to say that the EEA is a safe harbour.

"The offer that was made at the time of Brexit is not on the table, the global situation has been transformed much for the worse, not least by the actions of President (Donald) Trump,” he said.

"I believe it's absolutely essential that we face reality head-on. That reality is that people should be able to have a final say on whether or not to go ahead with the form of Brexit that is negotiated by the government."

Mr Corbyn's team have previously said that the EEA idea has "clear problems" in relation to any new trade deal.

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Last month his spokesman said: "The EEA packages that are currently in existence do not meet the needs and the priorities that we have set out and the Norway option is not appropriate and will not work for the kind of Brexit we want to see."

On Friday, 16 Labour MPs in London joined forces with Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable and two of his MPs to warn of the dangers that the capital faces when the UK leaves the European Union.

The UK is set to be worse off after Brexit, according to the government’s own impact reports.

GDP could fall by 7.7 per cent over 15 years if the UK opts for a World Trade Organisation-type post-Brexit trading arrangement with the EU, the analysis found.

Under an EEA deal the fall would be 1.6%.

The signatories of the letter to The Independent, which urged a deal that keeps Britain in the customs union and single market, included six former shadow ministers, several of whom were in place until last year.

It came the day after 10 Welsh Labour MPs called for a second referendum, including Anna McMorrin and Tonia Antoniazzi, who are parliamentary private secretaries to shadow cabinet members.

Other Labour backbenchers who have called for a second referendum on the Brexit deal include MPs in the North East.