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Should the electorate have the final say on Brexit?

(280 Posts)
MarthaBeck Sun 02-Sept-18 10:29:39

It is hard to believe Number 10 saying giving the People a final say on Brexit is a betrayal, when it will be the electorate themselves making the final decision. Surely, our democracy wins by deciding on agreement No 10 wishes to impose that may be very different to what the leading leave campaigners promised and the electorate accepted ie more money for the NHS, for Care, for our Infrastructure, and greater trade opportunities etc, etc.
Today, A key Conservative party donor has also called for a People’s vote to be held on the final Brexit deal amid new warnings about the huge financial costs of leaving the EU without an agreement.
Sir Simon Robertson, a former banker and Rolls-Royce chairman. Has told the Observer he was “deeply depressed” by the direction of the Brexit debate and he believed there should be a chance for a vote on the final deal hammered out with Brussels.
His backing for a second public vote suggests that there is support for the move among senior Tory Remainers.

“I think it is complete balderdash to say the people have spoken, therefore you can’t go back. The people can speak again – why can’t we have another vote on it?” Robertson told the Observer. “We had a brilliant deal with Europe. We had an opt-out on ever-closer union, we weren’t in the single currency and we were not in Schengen [the EU’s passport-free travel area]. We had a perfect arrangement. We are now going to end up with one where, at the end of things, we won’t have a final say.
If a final democratic resolution to Brexit is not offered to the electorate I fear there is likely to be such severe anger and possible backlash that we have never seen in the UK in our lifetime, that in my view we must avoid by giving the Nation the final say rather than having it imposed by dogma.

newnanny Mon 05-Nov-18 22:25:53

We had the in/out vote and the majority of those that voted voted out. If we did get another vote it should be deal or no deal. Personally I do not think there should be another public vote because the loser of the vote will just go on and on and on and on campaigning for yet another vote.

EllanVannin Mon 05-Nov-18 20:18:30

Okay Andycameron69, give me your reason for leaving.

Alexa Mon 05-Nov-18 20:10:49

Those moneyed people who financed the 'Leave' side did not seek to inform you but to influence you emotionally.

Alexa Mon 05-Nov-18 20:09:20

But AndyCameron69, you did not know what you were voting for. Only very knowledgeable persons knew the details about leaving. The Referendum made no sense , as each issue was not voted for.

Indeed to detail each issue would have required a largish booklet!

varian Mon 05-Nov-18 18:49:37

Oh dear, oh dear - have you learned absolutely nothing in the last two and a half years?

andycameron69 Mon 05-Nov-18 18:37:47

it is called a majority....we won leave...we will not be betrayed not with treason may.....

EllanVannin Mon 05-Nov-18 17:40:03

I voted Remain because I knew it was the right thing to do----Brexiteers voted in protest to my way of thinking.

Alexa Mon 05-Nov-18 17:25:33

Did any Gran who voted in the referendum to 'Leave ' know that they were voting for trouble with the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland?
If not, then the referendum was nonsense, as people need to know what they are voting for.

GrannyGravy13 Mon 05-Nov-18 17:16:18

I was 18 in July 1975, it never occurred to me to march outside parliament because I was ineligible to vote on 5/6/75 Or hope that all the elderly people who had voted would die so that if there were to be another vote the demographics would be different.

Alexa Mon 05-Nov-18 17:07:17

Varian, will the next referendum make it clear to voters what exactly they are voting for?

'Remain' was clear, as that was what we were accustomed to. But 'Leave' was so vague as to be useless because leavers(i.e. Brexiters) cannot have known what exactly they were voting for.

Welshwife Mon 05-Nov-18 16:55:46

We had a ‘once in a lifetime’ vote in 1975 - so why did we need another one — because those who never wanted the U.K. to join never shut up about it for 40 years — another 38 to go this time!

GrannyGravy13 Mon 05-Nov-18 16:15:18

Obviously the "Remain voters" will back/want a second referendum, and probably a third, fourth and fifth one until they get the result they want.

We had a "once in a lifetime" referendum, both sides were economic with the truth. The result was to leave the EU and the HofP should stop squabbling and political point scoring and just get on with the practicality of leaving what is the corrupt money pit called the EU!!

varian Mon 05-Nov-18 16:08:56

20,000 people were questioned by Channel 4 on the possibility of another vote, agead of a televised debate to be broadcast tonight- Brexit: What The Nation Really Thinks will be broadcast at 8pm on Monday.

43% said they would support a second referendum that was a binary choice between a deal and staying in, with 37% opposing a vote on those terms.

However while it was backed by 63% of people who voted Remain, it was backed by just 20% of Leave voters.

www.itv.com/news/2018-11-04/four-in-10-britons-back-second-referendum-offering-in-out-brexit-choice-poll/

MaizieD Mon 05-Nov-18 11:07:39

More than 70 major business leaders have called for a second referendum on Brexit.

As have 1,500 of our prominent lawyers

More than 1,500 of the UK’s top lawyers have urged Theresa May and MPs to back a second Brexit referendum, saying that “democratic government is not frozen in time”.

Labour peer Helena Kennedy QC, former court of appeal judge Konrad Schiemann, and David Edward, a former judge at the court of justice of the European Communities, are among those who have called for a “people’s vote” on EU membership.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/05/uks-top-lawyers-urge-theresa-may-to-back-second-brexit-vote?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX01vcm5pbmdCcmllZmluZ1VLLTE4MTEwNQ%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MorningBriefingUK&CMP=morningbriefinguk_email

(apologies for the very long link)

varian Mon 05-Nov-18 09:58:34

More than 70 major business leaders have called for a second referendum on Brexit.

Bosses from major high street companies such as Waterstones and Sainsbury’s warned Theresa May’s Brexit proposals are “bad for business and bad for working people”.

Waterstones chief executive James Daunt, ex-Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King, Lastminute.com founder Baroness Lane-Fox and Innocent Drinks co-founder Richard Reed were among signatories of a letter calling for a People's Vote on leaving the EU.

The letter argues both the government's plans for Brexit and a no-deal Brexit would leave the country worse off than it would being part of the EU.

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-news-latest-more-than-70-top-business-leaders-call-for-second-referendum-a3980051.html

varian Mon 05-Nov-18 09:39:27

More than 1,500 of the UK’s top lawyers have urged Theresa May and MPs to back a second Brexit referendum, saying that “democratic government is not frozen in time”.

Labour peer Helena Kennedy QC, former court of appeal judge Konrad Schiemann, and David Edward, a former judge at the court of justice of the European Communities, are among those who have called for a “people’s vote” on EU membership.

In a letter to the prime minister, they say parliament should not be bound by the 2016 vote any more than it should be by the 1975 referendum that took Britain into the EU, especially when there were question marks over its validity.

They write that “voters are entitled to know what they are voting for”, adding: “There was a key difference between 1975 and 2016. The earlier referendum was held after negotiations were complete, so voters knew what they were voting for. Let the people judge whether a Brexit deal is fit for purpose.

“In 2016, the nature of the negotiation process and its outcome were unknown. Voters faced a choice between a known reality and an unknown alternative. In the campaign, untestable claims took the place of facts and reality.”

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/05/uks-top-lawyers-urge-theresa-may-to-back-second-brexit-vote

varian Fri 02-Nov-18 19:42:52

It is quite wrong for the brexiters to claim that everyone who voted leave the EU voted to leave the single market and customs union. They certainly did not.

twitter.com/peoplesvote_uk/status/1058046754040541185/video/1

varian Tue 30-Oct-18 17:28:28

Quite so Trisher, especially when so many of them were duped by the Leave Liars.

trisher Tue 30-Oct-18 10:29:57

There is of course the age argument that by Jan 19th 2019 the demographic will have changed so much with Brexiteers dying and younger voters numbers (who are pro-European) increasing. www.independent.co.uk/voices/final-say-remain-leave-second-referendum-brexit-no-deal-crossover-day-a8541576.html
It does seem wrong that older people who will not experience the problems should have thefinal say.

varian Mon 29-Oct-18 14:50:08

Over one million people have now signed The Independent’s petition calling for the British public to be given a Final Say on Brexit in a new referendum. That means this is the biggest petition Change.org have run from the UK this year.

The petition reached the milestone on Saturday afternoon, just three months after it was launched and amid deadlock in negotiations with Brussels and growing concern over a looming no-deal Brexit or the possibility of a deal that does not prove to be popular with the public.

Theresa May has refused to contemplate a new referendum – but the matter may eventually be taken out of her hands, with odds on the prime minister finding any deal parliament can approve dwindling.

www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-give-people-a-final-say-on-brexit-deal/u/23503451?cs_tk=ARWfXXXMq1sHKmgQ21sAYYBxs8bFKc2lboJ8vky3kw%3D%3D&utm_campaign=3c3067497d704a8098315976b6c50c51&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs

varian Sun 28-Oct-18 14:55:06

Many of the BBC’s Brexit articles are accompanied by its “guide to Brexit jargon”. Conspicuous in their absence from the list of 63 Brexit terms are “People’s Vote”, “final say”, “second referendum” and “Remain”. There’s little to suggest Brexit is anything but an inevitable policy to be thrashed out by factions of the Tory party. What’s more, the top six options shown to readers are all possible Brexit outcomes – none of them covering “no Brexit”.

infacts.org/why-is-bbc-so-often-ignoring-option-of-peoples-vote/

Apparently a documentary being made in advance by the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation about the People's Vote March was cancelled on the grounds that "no-one is interested" .

700,000 people were interested enough to attend the march - seven times as many as were expected. Every opinion survey in the last months shows a majority in favour of a vote and a majority rejecting any kind of brexit.

If we do get a vote on the deal with the option of remaining, I am still afraid that too many voters would be swayed, as they were two years ago by the blatant bias in our newspapers and the BBC.

Welshwife Thu 25-Oct-18 19:50:12

I see a report today that after Brexit the UK will be given 984 licences for trucks to go to EU - 38,000 trucks are going currently!

Fennel Thu 25-Oct-18 19:16:10

I do hope common sense prevails, varian. Pragmatism used to be one of national qualities.
I'm going to start praying again for this - it can't hurt.

varian Thu 25-Oct-18 18:42:30

It is not just those of us who voted to Remain in the EU that would like the chance to vote on "the deal" with an option to remain as we are. 3.3 million Leave voters now support a People's Vote with the option to Remain, a new poll has revealed.

The research, from anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain and HOPE not hate, could deal a massive blow to Brexiteers who claim the British public definitively made up their minds in 2016, and adds to growing momentum in recent weeks for people to be given the final say on any deal Theresa May brings back from Brussels.

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/three-point-three-million-leave-voters-support-peoples-vote-says-new-poll-1-5719471

varian Mon 15-Oct-18 21:56:24

Around 10,000 young people will take to the streets to lead a major demonstration in support of a fresh referendum on Brexit.

Students, college pupils and young activists from as far afield as northern Scotland are due to head up the People’s Vote March for the Future on Saturday 20 October, organised in conjunction with The Independent.

The demonstration is designed to show the breadth of public support for a Final Say vote on Theresa May’s deal, and organisers expect to better their previous march in July, where more than 100,000 people turned out.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-protest-eu-referendum-final-say-peoples-vote-march-deal-a8581566.html