The People's Vote

2 years ago to UK voted to leave the European Union...

Except only 52% did, based on a leave campaign that broke electoral laws* and broadcasted false claims. The fact is that no-one knew what 'Brexit' meant in 2016. The campaigns leading up to the referendum focussed so much on personal attacks during debates that the facts were omitted.

According to the Centre of Social Investigation's report, The UK regaining control over EU immigration was the most common reason that eurosceptics voted to leave. Yet since the referendum, the government are reportedly** in talks to keep UK borders open to the EU after the UK becomes independent. Other reasons include that lump sum of money to the NHS we were all promised by a bus. But it turns out that too was misinformation.

That is't to say that the Remain campaign was much better, also basing their arguments on falsities such as ‘Two thirds of British jobs in manufacturing are dependent on demand from Europe’***, a claim that was based on outdated CEBR research, with the figure looking more like 15%.

On top of embellished claims on both sides and gross overspending by the leave campaign, millions of potential voters were disenfranchised. UK citizens living in the EU, EU citizens resident in the UK and 16-17 year olds were all denied a say, despite being able to vote in the Scottish independence referendum. In what world do the issues surrounding independence apply differently when it comes to the UK instead of Scotland?

A vote is only democratic if every citizen gets a free and equal opportunity to have their say. But those disenfranchised did not get an equal say, and the lies that saturated both campaigns certainly did not make it free.

We still don't entirely know what 'Brexit' really means - closed or open borders? Leaving or Remaining in the single market? Keeping the ECHR or drawing up a British bill of rights? 'Brexit means Brexit' is a meaningless phrase and the options on how to go about leaving the EU are far from straightforward. Little over half of the electorate voted to leave the EU, without knowing what leaving the EU really entailed. We’ve since had two years of scandals, ministerial resignations, and news outlets discovering what Brexit actually means, meaning only now can we understand and have a democratic vote on the subject matter.

The UK deserves the right to have a vote on the final deal, based on whether it matches what we initially thought Brexit meant. A peoples vote is necessary if we are to make the decision to leave the European Union even mildly democratic.

* Broken spending limits and failure to comply with electoral rules

**Business Insider report 2018

***Alan Johnson MP's claims

#Brexit #UKpolitics #PeoplesVote