Czech PM says new Brexit referendum option cannot be ruled out

Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis takes part in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

PRAGUE (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May rejected a second referendum on leaving the European Union in a telephone call on Saturday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday.

"I told her the best solution would be for Great Britain to stay in the European Union. Therefore I am convinced it is worth calling a new referendum," Babis said on Twitter, saying he had discussed Brexit with May at the weekend. "She rejected this, but according to me it is still not ruled out."

British lawmakers handed May a second humiliating defeat for her Brexit plan on Tuesday, plunging the country deeper into political crisis with almost no clues as to how it will emerge from the Brexit chaos.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Janet Lawrence)