A clear majority of the British public now believes Brexit has been bad for the UK economy, has driven up prices in shops, and has hampered government attempts to control immigration, according to a landmark poll by Opinium to mark the third anniversary of the UK fully leaving the EU single market and customs unions.
The survey of more than 2,000 UK voters also finds strikingly low numbers of people who believe that Brexit has been of benefit to them or the country.
Britons voted for it, now they think it’s completely failed. I don’t know guys, but there some questions that we should just not ask Britons!!?
Personally voted against Brexit, but always believed it should never have even gone to a referendum. We are a parliamentary democracy and parliament should have decided.
I voted against it. I told everyone I knew it would be a shitshow. Countless others called out all of the lies from the leave campaign.
It’s not fun to have been proven right on something like this. 49% of britons did not want brexit and rightly knew how awful it would turn out.
Did prove 51% are either/both racist and stupid
Those percentages aren’t even correct for the entire population cause not everyone voted. And I would argue most people that didn’t vote just wanted it to stay same as, and didn’t think Leave would’ve polled so highly among the voters.
The problem is that it was an advisory vote and it is should have been handled by initially deciding a negotiating position.
Leaving the EU meant a lot of different things and the approximate idea of implementation should have been decided on before leaving.
The yes/no nature of the vote was also a mistake. “Keep it as it is” Vs “change something” lumped in everyone who wanted anything from a swiss or Nordic style deal down to hard brexiteers and protest votes into the same category, when normally they wouldn’t have agreed.
If it were to happen at all, it should have been a ranked vote.
This is sometimes raised, but is misleading. The only reason it was legally advisory is because in the British system of government, the UK cannot bind Parliament; the House of Commons can override anything else.
In the system of government in some countries, the option for a meaningful legal difference between two types of referendum exists.
The British government had been explicit that what the British public voted for would be implemented; this is the closest analog to a binding referendum. Had they simply wanted to request the advice of the public, it would have been announced that they would take the outcome under consideration.
This is not to say that having that referendum was s good idea. It is just to say that the binding/advisory nature is really a property of the British system of government, not to indicate that the intent was to merely take the public’s vote as advice.
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It was decided by the political class, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. With such a slim margin they could have said “oh well, it’s practically 50-50, it’s wiser to maintain the status quo”.
Particularly given at the time it was presented as an opinion vote. Of course when it turned out the way the ERG wanted they couldn’t wait to push a retcon to make it binding through parliament because small margins apparently mean unassailable “will of the people”. Had it gone the other way they would have used it to push for another binding one “look nearly half of people want it… bla bla bla”.
Nigel Farage was already gearing up to become a massive thorn in everyone’s backside. He actually thought it probably would go that way he didn’t realize that he barely won.
🤨
“Which is the best brand of brown sauce?”
“How dare those dirty proles be given a choice”
Yup, you’re a real hero with your populism. Look how great that turned out.
People these days treat democracy like a damned religion instead of a system of governance. Turns out though that complex decisions often benefit from expertise instead of letting the lowest common denominator decide.
Wow. Careful, your hat might blow off at those elevated heights you inhabit.
Because it turned out so damn well for the UK when they did let the average person decide on policy that they have no fucking clue about, didn’t it?
Aren’t the people in parliament, who usually decide on policy, the average person?
Edit: fascinated by the downvotes
How’s the weather up there in your ivory tower?
I suppose when you are down in a dank shitty hole of your own making, normal sunlight and open ground must seem like an ivory tower.
Would you like me to let down a rope ladder for you?
They were, in who they elect to represent them.
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The problem is letting people be deliberately missinformed. To the point they were tricked into voting against their own interest. Allowing that is the issue and throughing a referendum into that was always going to end badly.
The whole point of a representative democracy is to acknowledge that in some cases the populace lack the proper understanding to make an informed choice.
Refernerdums of this size and impact should require more than a simple majority. Or countries would just reinvent themselves and rectify new constitutions 3 times a month.