The campaign for a referendum on the final Brexit deal has been boosted by a record £1m donation, amid growing public concern that Britain will leave the EU without any agreement, The Guardian reported.

The multimillionaire Julian Dunkerton, who co-founded the Superdry fashion label, said he was making the donation to the People’s Vote campaign because he saw a “genuine chance to turn this around”. He claimed that, if Brexit had happened 20 years earlier, his brand would never have been a success.

The donation will fund a polling blitz that organisers hope will inject critical momentum into their campaign. Those backing a new public vote face a race against time before Britain ceases to be an EU member after March next year.

“I’m putting some of my money behind the People’s Vote campaign because we have a genuine chance to turn this around. I’ve got a good instinct for when a mood is going to change and we’re in one of those moments now. It’s becoming clear there is no vision for Brexit and the politicians have made a mess of it. Increasingly, the public knows that Brexit is going to be a disaster. Maybe they just need to be given that little bit of hope that comes when they see how opinion is moving.

“I will be paying for one of the most detailed polling exercises ever undertaken by a campaign so that more and more people have the confidence to demand the democratic right for their voice to be heard – to get a People’s Vote on any Brexit deal or the outcome of these negotiations,” Dunkerton noted.