Government Petition Website: EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on June 27, 2016 at 8:26

Serious?

I love your understatement.

By now you may have realised that there are more important things in the world than lightbulbs.

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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on June 27, 2016 at 20:10

"Project Fear" is now becoming "Project Reality". The £350m - per week - NHS pledge was a hoax. Now they say immigration numbers won't fall. People were sold a pup. People wanted to make some sort of point to hit the "London liberal elite" without leaving. There should have been three questions on the ballot paper: In/Out/Shake It All About.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on June 27, 2016 at 11:59

Here's the story on Huff Post of the 'English Democrat' 'Leave' voter (link to English Democrats Facebook page) who set this petition up last month, worried about a narrow 'Remain' win.

Here is his statement about the petition made on the 'English Democrats' Facebook page yesterday:

***CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!!***

Dear All
Re: EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum petition
This petition was created at a time (over a month ago) when it was looking unlikely that 'leave' were going to win, with the intention of making it harder for 'remain' to further shackle us to the EU. Due to the result, the petition has been hijacked by the remain campaign. Admittedly, my actions were premature however, my intentions were as stated above. THERE WAS NO GUARANTEE OF A LEAVE VICTORY AT THAT TIME!!! Having said that, if it had not been mine, it would have been orchestrated by someone on the remain campaign. However, since I am associated with the petition and before the press further associate me with it I felt the need to better clarify my position on the issue even if it looks bad. I am it's creator, nothing more! The logistical probability of getting a turnout to be a minimum of 75% and of that, 60% of the vote must be one or the other (leave or remain) is in my opinion next to impossible without a compulsory element to the voting system.

I have been opposed to the bureaucratic and undemocratic nature of the European Union as an institution privately for many years and for all of my political career. I have openly and actively lent my support to both Vote Leave and Grassroots Out campaigns - why would I do this if I wanted to remain in the EU? I am genuinely appalled by the behaviour of some of the remain campaign, how they are conducting themselves post-referendum not just with this petition but generally. The referendum was fairly funded; democratically endorsed, every vote was weighted equally and I believe this was a true reflection of the mood of the country. To my fellow leavers, now doubting their decision please keep the faith, we will be fine just stick with it. I believe what we need to do now for the good of the country; is get behind the will of the British people, unite, issue Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon and move forward, with the process of leaving the European Union.

William Oliver Healey

Creator of EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum petition

And, here are the English Democrats distancing themselves from its message.

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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on June 27, 2016 at 18:49

I found this point thought provoking, especially beacuse the outers keep banging on about democracy in action:

What we do know is that, in practice, most countries require a “supermajority” for nation-defining decisions, not a mere 51%. There is no universal figure like 60%, but the general principle is that, at a bare minimum, the majority ought to be demonstrably stable. A country should not be making fundamental, irreversible changes based on a razor-thin minority that might prevail only during a brief window of emotion.

Here: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/brexit-democratic-fail...

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