Re:Brexit Deal Fails in Parliament
by dmurray on Wednesday January 16, 2019 @06:29AM
(#18919927)
I don't see how this could reasonably have been done in the Brexit case. You would have to spend years negotiating the terms of the withdrawal first, then ask the people for a yea or nay. That negotiation would go totally differently if the UK government couldn't credibly claim it had a mandate from the people for the withdrawal.
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In retrospect, it didn't go all too well with the mandate either.
In a functioning parliamentary democracy, the proper order of actions for Brexit would have been:
1) UKIP (or a coalition of Brexit-minded parties) wins general election.
2) PM Nigel Farage opens withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
3) 2+ years later, with a complete withdrawal agreement on the table, a referendum is held on whether to accept the deal.
4) If at least 50% of voters support the withdrawal agreement, it comes into effect within two months.
This is not a pipe dream — it's exactly how the countries who joined EU in 1995 did it.
David Cameron is entirely to blame for this ongoing sad charade that makes a mockery of UK's democratic processes.
2/3rds or 75% not 50% plus 1
In a way they did just that. David Cameron negotated some changes to EU law (minor tweaks), and said to the British people: "I went to the EU and got these changes, shall we stay in or leave?"