27 March 2019
The government claims that it is not democratic to hold another referendum, as we need to ‘honour the result’ of the 2016 referendum.
Why do we need to ‘honour the result’ of the 2016 referendum? Legally it was only advisory, not binding. It showed what people thought at the time, based on what they knew then. Since then things have changed.
No referendum can bind the future. Firstly, you cannot expect people who were too young to vote in a referendum to be bound by the result. Secondly, circumstances change and people change their minds.
Democracy means trying to do what is right for everyone. That means protecting the rights and interests of everyone and listening to minorities, not about doing whatever a majority wanted, at the time, for whatever reason, and ignoring the rest.
In the 2016 referendum, a small majority, of 52% to 48%, voted to leave the EU. If people change their mind, or as young people become old enough to vote, the majority can easily change into a minority and vice versa, after only a year or two.
That is why we have a representative democracy in this country and referenda are generally not a good idea. We elect people – MPs - to represent our interests in Parliament, make the laws of the country, choose the government and hold it to account. MPs have a duty to do what they believe is best for ALL their constituents, young and old, those who voted for them and those who did not. Parliament is sovereign and MPs can change their minds if circumstances change. If we don’t like what our MPs do, we, the people, the voters, can choose someone else as our representative at the next election.
But for better or worse, we had a referendum in 2016 and a small majority voted to leave the EU. If Parliament (not the government) decides that circumstances have changed and we should stay in the EU, Parliament is legally and constitutionally entitled to instruct the government to take action to do this, for example by revoking Article 50.
But in order to ‘honour the result’ of the first referendum, it may be sensible hold a second referendum. Holding a second referendum is not undemocratic. Parliament and the government can still honour the result of the 2016 referendum, by deciding to hold a second referendum, asking electors to confirm, or reject, the decision taken by their representatives in Parliament. That is the only sensible way to ‘honour the result’ of the 2016 referendum.
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