General Discussion
" Not once were we given a chance to vote on these treaties" correct but you voted for representation in the parliaments in the form of MEPs and MPs. This should never have been given to the public to decide on. Too big an issue and far too nuanced for the majority of the public. If you wanted to leave then put a leave party in Government, that's how it should have worked.
I can't speak for Farage, but I know I had to wait 40 years to vote again on the issue. Let's enact the Leave result and then after a suitable period (40 years?), we can evaluate if it has been a success.
So if the 1975 referendum was so completely different in oh so many ways then claims by Leavers that the 2016 referendum was the second referendum are invalid. Two entirely different sets of circumstances. The 2016 referendum was the first one concerning our membership of the EU. The outcome was a close run thing. So close that arch Brexiter, N. Farage, anticipated that a 48/52 outcome ...
I would remind you that the '75 referendum occured when we had been in the EEC for only two years, nothing much had happened by then, I don't think people thought membership had affected them much at all. Of course the EEC then morphed into the EU with myriad game-changing treaties, such as Maastricht and Lisbon, being introduced. Not once were we given a chance to vote on these treaties, Gordon ...
On a 48/52 outcome I doubt very much that the 48ers would have been ignored for too long.* (Be interesting to see which hard line Brexit MPs suddenly lose their oh so principled objections to supporting May's deal when it comes to the vote in the HoC this afternoon). *The 1975 referendum outcome was 67.23% yes; 32. 77% No Quite a bit different from the much closer 48/52 outcome of ...
And we'd likely to be told to eff off, wait 40 years like we had to after 1975, but because Remain lost the government is bending over backwards to try to bend the result to placate them. But we do have a Remain government and a Remain parliament so it's no wonder the decision made by the people is being trashed.
@Vicks - well I'd bet my last Euro that had the result been the otherway around that Leave supporters would be pushing for another referendum. https://dawlish.com/thread/details/46552
I'm hoping May is defeated again but I think she will somehow scrape this through.
@Lynne I take your point, however I do not think that you should make that comparison with a General Election. A GE is something that happens at least every 5 years, the EU Referendum was supposed to be a "one-off" (or so we were promised!!).
I see the breakaway group of TIGs have this morning become an official political party called Change UK. I wonder in which constituency Soubry thinks she has any chance at all of winning a seat in parliament.