POLITICIANS with “hidden agendas” are exploiting the tribalism of Brexit to try to usher in an authoritarian state, one of the UK’s most prominent Remain campaigners has said.

Gina Miller insisted the foundations of society have been violently rocked in recent years, allowing those who want to exploit divisions to use Brexit “as an almost cultish religion”.

It came as she warned any second referendum on leaving the European Union risked being “hijacked” by Brexit extremists.

Ms Miller – who rose to fame after winning a court victory which forced a parliamentary vote on triggering Article 50 – was speaking to a sold-out crowd at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

She said Brexit was “becoming an identity and a tribalism, which is so disruptive”, adding: “Those politicians who I think have a hidden agenda are actually picking at the wounds of Brexit.”

Pressed on this, she added: “I think it’s a very right-wing agenda.

"I think it’s an ideology that sees us as going towards a demolishing of democracy, and a move towards an authoritarian society where they become the masters and the rest of us, painted through choice, become the obedient, or those with lesser choices.

“This is an agenda that’s not just in the UK. I do see it as something that’s happening on a very global basis.

“But I believe it’s a very deliberate state of political realignment.”

Ms Miller, who is being discussed as a possible future leader of the Liberal Democrats, has thrown her weight behind calls for a so-called “People’s Vote” on the final Brexit deal.

But she insisted time is running out, and argued Leave-supporting politicians could intervene to take staying in the EU off the table.

She said: “My fear is that it’s happening a bit too late. We only have, from when parliament sits again next week – we have ten weeks. We don’t have until March next year because of the legal process.

“So I wonder about the time we have to get a People’s Vote. I do think it’s possible, but we’re going to have to be very, very diligent about how that happens.

“The second thing is that I think the groups that are going to come together who are against Brexit – the Brextremists – will rise up and may well hijack the People’s Vote, and push for only a deal or no deal. A binary choice.

“The biggest danger about that is psychologically people think that a no deal is better than a bad deal. Because they’ve already been rebranding it as a ‘clean break’.

“They have a lot of knowledge and intelligence on their side – and money. They know what they’re doing, so I worry about them hijacking a People’s Vote.”

The campaigner and businesswoman, who has just published a memoir called Rise, also spoke out about the abuse she has suffered since winning her Brexit legal challenge against the UK Government.

Last year, aristocrat Rhodri Colwyn Philipps – the 4th Viscount St Davids – was jailed for 12 weeks after offering £5,000 to anyone who ran her over.

Ms Miller called for an overhaul of social media laws to make it easier to punish those who threaten and abuse others.