The Dictatorship of the Etonariat

[CGR]

I don't think anyone's complaining, just commenting on a figure that goes some way towards explaining a seemingly anomalous result.

The result is the result is the result. Nothing anomalous about it. A majority of over 1.28 million votes. It didn't matter where the votes were cast, the referendum was a national vote.

[CGR]

That is what is known as a lie
Because 100% of people didn't vote in any area

Or is it only those who vote who count ? which ignores a vast number of people who are too young etc etc

That is the same as in any election. If you are eligible to vote and choose not to, don't complain about the result.

[ahinton]

The result is the result is the result. Nothing anomalous about it. A majority of over 1.28 million votes. It didn't matter where the votes were cast, the referendum was a national vote.

Yes, a mere advisory-only non-legally-binding public opinion poll in which most voters didn't have anything like sufficient information at hand to guide them towards making an intelligent and informed decision, two out of the four UK nations voted one way and the other two the other way and 16- and 17-year olds as well as all UK ex-pats were barred from voting altogether (despite the former having been entitled to vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum); very "democratic", I'm sure!...

[ahinton]

That is the same as in any election. If you are eligible to vote and choose not to, don't complain about the result.

And if you ought to have been eligible to vote but were barred from doing so?...

[CGR]

Yes, a mere advisory-only non-legally-binding public opinion poll in which most voters didn't have anything like sufficient information at hand to guide them towards making an intelligent and informed decision, two out of the four UK nations voted one way and the other two the other way and 16- and 17-year olds as well as all UK ex-pats were barred from voting altogether (despite the former having been entitled to vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum); very "democratic", I'm sure!...

The Government delegated the decision to the British people: "This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide."

Scotland, Wales and NI make up less than 15% of the UK population.

Children do not vote in UK elections.

The referendum vote was as about as democratic a decision as you could get.

[Serial_Apologist]

That is the same as in any election. If you are eligible to vote and choose not to, don't complain about the result.

If the recommendation to leave had been divided between leave with a deal and leave without one, do you actually think a majority would have voted to leave? I don't; I think many would have been frightened, realising the serious potential consequences following no agreement. Mainstream political opinion in Britain has always been notoriously cautious, cleaving to some notion of "the centre" that they allow right-wing mass media to define for them. It is only the post-rationalising unwisdom of hindsight - "don't blame me, guv" - that leads Brexiters to stick doggedly to their position.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Government delegated the decision to the British people: "This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide."

Scotland, Wales and NI make up less than 15% of the UK population.

Children do not vote in UK elections.

The referendum vote was as about as democratic a decision as you could get.

The government can say what it likes (and frequently does). Nevertheless, the statute books make it clear that the referendum was non-binding, and no amount of of waffle can change that.

[ahinton]

The Government delegated the decision to the British people: "This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide."

And it should not have done so. Why did it do so?

Scotland, Wales and NI make up less than 15% of the UK population.

So? What about London and other large UK cities that voted Remain?

Children do not vote in UK elections.

This was a referendum, not an election; as I pointed out, 16- and 17-year olds (I said nothing about "children") were permitted to vote in the Scottish independence referendum, so why not this one?

You omit reference to the ex-pats barred from voting.

The referendum vote was as about as democratic a decision as you could get.

That doesn't make it democratic!

[Bryn]

The government can say what it likes (and frequently does). Nevertheless, the statute books make it clear that the referendum was non-binding, and no amount of of waffle can change that.

Spot on! To claim otherwise indicates a case of British constitutional politics GCSE failed.

[John Locke]

The Government delegated the decision to the British people: "This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide."

Scotland, Wales and NI make up less than 15% of the UK population.

Children do not vote in UK elections.

The referendum vote was as about as democratic a decision as you could get.

Let us assume that the government had taken the commonsense step of establishing a quota for such a seismic change in the UK's relationship with its closest neighbours, for instance at least 55%. The Leave vote would have failed, but it would still have been 52%:48%. How then would Leavers have regarded the status of their vote? Would they have returned to their work, accepting that they had lost? Or would the British Winner-Takes-All mentality have taken over: we won, you lost. Our will must be accomplished.

As far as the 17.4m votes are concerned, 16.1m of them are plainly cancelled out by those who voted to Remain, leaving 1.3m voters out of an electorate of 46m and a population of 65m. Should that dog rump of 1.3m be allowed to wag the nation's dog?

[CGR]

Let us assume that the government had taken the commonsense step of establishing a quota for such a seismic change in the UK's relationship with its closest neighbours, for instance at least 55%. The Leave vote would have failed, but it would still have been 52%:48%. How then would Leavers have regarded the status of their vote? Would they have returned to their work, accepting that they had lost? Or would the British Winner-Takes-All mentality have taken over: we won, you lost. Our will must be accomplished.

As far as the 17.4m votes are concerned, 16.1m of them are plainly cancelled out by those who voted to Remain, leaving 1.3m voters out of an electorate of 46m and a population of 65m. Should that dog rump of 1.3m be allowed to wag the nation's dog?

The result stands. We voted to leave the EU.

[vinteuil]

The result stands. We voted to leave the EU.

An assertion sadly lacking in nuance.

.

[Bryn]

The result stands. We voted to leave the EU.

So you have no time for constitutional politics. In this State, all referendums are advisory only, whether 'here today, gone tomorrow' carpet-bagging politicians like it or not.

[ahinton]

The result stands. We voted to leave the EU.

But what result? And who are "we"? IN any case, no one voted from UK to leave EU; that's not how the referendum was intended to work. A handful more people who were allowed to vote chose tht the government should be advised of that view; no more, no less. The government had no legal obligation to act in accordance with or indeed against this. Apart from any other considerations, does it not occur to you that 39 months after the result of that opinion poll was announcved, UK has still not left EU and it is not yet known if it will do so or, if it does, on what terms. Lastly, as has already been noted here, no one voted to advise the government that UK should leave EU without a deal and it is likely that very few would have done so had that been an option.

The entire omnishambles has been a most divisive, expsneive and embarrassing exercise that has damaged relations with EU (which UK will need to maintain whether or not it leaves) and caused no end of harm to UK's international reputation that will take many years to heal.

So much for Clever-Clogs Cameron who launched it in the first place when there was not even any evidence of a desire among the UK electorate to review UK's continued EU membership (and no other UK party promised to address it in its 2015 GE manifesto). So much for "democratic Parliamentary process" (which of course was overriden by subjecting it to referendum).

[ahinton]

An assertion sadly lacking in nuance.

.

Indeed, but by no means only in nuance...