-
That’s bullshit. How did MPs not act on the referendum result, given that they voted by a large majority to trigger article 50?
The problems have arisen because of May’s red lines, which are incompatible with the Good Friday agreement, not because of MPs.
andyp-
The problems have arisen because of May’s red lines, which are incompatible with the Good Friday agreement, not because of MPs.
It's not a binary choice. May was thinking about placating party membership and the Brexit-voting part of the electorate and she put that before thinking about what was practical. But MPs would probably have struggled to agree on the implementation (as opposed to the simple action of triggering article 50) in any case.
It's a lot easier to get a majority of any group to agree that "something must be done" than to make them agree on how to do it.
-
Exactly. The issue is WITH 'the advice of the referendum result', not a failure to follow it. The mandate was never clear; May's red lines merely pushed the overton window to the right and resolved nothing; in fact it emboldened those of us who voted Remain to push back.
If we'd gone for a soft Brexit following the A50 vote, leaving the EU, losing our MEPs, and remaining in the CU/SM, remainers like me would've accepted it. I could even probably have handled leaving one or other of the CU/SM.
But when a hard Brexit is chosen as the only valid type, and anyone who disagrees is against 'the people', and there's no room for nuance, you're either with the ERG or against them, you can't blame MPs for not being able to come together on that. They're just reflecting the country.
MPs have their problems but failing to act on a clear mandate is not one of them.
itsbruce
ReekBlefs
Yes it’s all divisive. Not sure it tells us anything. It’s the product of a country radicalised on one weird issue that’s become a catch-all issue for some. Extremists are in charge because MPs didn’t act on the advice of the ref result and the opposition were also split.