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16 September 2018

The Observer view: we must give voters a chance to deliver their verdict on Brexit terms


The British newspaper says that the only way out of the current democratic conundrum is for MPs to force the government to put its final Brexit deal to the electorate.

 [...]This leaves the country in a dangerous political vacuum. Two years on, it will only be resolved by putting a concrete proposal to leave the EU to a popular vote, as the Observer argued 18 months ago. But both parties have failed to back a referendum, claiming that leaving the EU – however we do it and regardless of the cost – represents the unchallengeable will of the people.

It’s time to call this out once and for all. By itself, the 2016 referendum did not afford sufficient democratic legitimacy for taking Britain out of the EU, come what may and however bad the terms. Voters were not presented with a clearly articulated option for leaving. The poll followed a campaign in which voters were told that leaving would be a pain-free way to “take back control” of our borders; to enrich ourselves by seizing economic independence, while freeing up billions to pump into the NHS. Brexiters acknowledged no costs or risks to the painstakingly negotiated peace in Northern Ireland. True populists that they are, they mis-sold voters a disingenuous delusion. And lo and behold, they have failed to deliver. [...]

The country is at a dangerous impasse. No political party is advocating a concrete plan that has any chance of securing agreement from the EU. Our leaders continue to pretend that voters were not deceived. Unchecked, this dishonesty will sow the seeds for popular backlash. You cannot beat the populists by aping them, a lesson that Britain’s governing classes appear to have yet to learn. [...]

The only way out of this democratic conundrum is for MPs to force the government to put its deal to the electorate. This is not about rerunning the referendum: it is the only way of making sense of its result. Voters must be offered the option to accept the deal or to seek to remain in the EU on our current terms. The idea that the 2016 vote is binding – that Britain has to leave the EU regardless of the lack of a realistic exit plan or of changing circumstances – is preposterous. And the circumstances have changed immeasurably. The government has not been able to secure what voters were promised in 2016. The electorate of 2016 does not somehow trump the better-informed electorate of 2018.

Some have argued that there should be a no-deal third option. But there is no significant political constituency positively advocating crashing out with no deal. The hard Brexiters remain defined by what they are opposed to, rather than any concrete proposals. Even crashing out of the EU on WTO terms would require agreements already to be in place: existing EU quotas would need to be allocated between the EU and the UK and our proposals for doing this have already been blocked. Crashing out with no deal would be economically calamitous and this scenario should only be put to the public vote were May to fail to secure a deal. [...]

Full editorial



© The Observer


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