Is the Referendum a waste of time and money?

© UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor flickr

Jeremy Corbyn addressing the House of Commons.

HOW many people realise that the Referendum vote can be overruled by Parliament if a majority of either House decide to do so, as the final decision to leave can only be made following a formal vote in the two Houses?

In the same way that the election of the US President is actually decided by 538 members of the Electoral College who have the power to ignore the public presidential vote, so, members of Parliament can do exactly the same.

Although highly unlikely, technically if there was to be a Referendum majority in favour of exiting the EU, a consortium consisting of Conservative ‘Remainers’, Scottish Nationalists and the Labour Party could vote down the exit proposal.

This would then leave those who want to exit in the position of calling for a vote of no confidence in the Government and the question then would be whether those parties who voted to remain would stay true to their position and vote against the call of no confidence or if they would change sides in the hope of forcing a ‘snap’ general election.

If there was to be a general election, the parties would have to make it clear where they stood as far as the exit was concerned and it could well spell disaster for the Conservative party which would be split asunder.

In the event that the vote of no confidence is rejected, then a decision will have to be made by the warring parties within the Conservative group as to whether they could continue to work together or would fall to a second vote of no confidence, this time from one of the opposition parties.

There is also the House of Lords to consider, as they also have to agree to pass any vote which would first of all repeal the 1972 European Communities Act which formed the legal basis for the UK to join although their decision would not be as binding as that of the other House.

It’s all very hypothetical and highly unlikely but there is always a remote chance of the unexpected becoming reality so whilst there may be a final solution announced in the early hours of June 24, one must also at least be aware that there is another option.

In addition and following the very sad death of Labour MP Jo Cox, a petition calling for the Referendum to be cancelled and the decision left with Parliament has already received 20,000 votes and is likely to obtain the 100,000 votes required for it to be debated in Parliament, but as the commons is in recess, returning only to allow fellow members to speak about the murdered MP, in reality there is insufficient time to allow for petition to be discussed.

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Comments


    • kay peukert

      20 June 2016 • 10:44

      I never knew THAT
      Thanks for enlightening me
      Kay

    • Roy Peters

      20 June 2016 • 12:03

      Should Parliament vote against the proposal when the people have voted for Brexit, that would signal the end of democracy in our country.
      No Parliament has the right to go against the will of the people!

    • Mike in ESP

      20 June 2016 • 15:49

      Its a referendum which the people of the country “and others” vote on the subject of the referendum.

      If you are Irish and live in the UK you can vote but if you are British and have lived out of the UK for 15 or more years you cannot, how is that for lunacy!

      I really do not understand someone who says “I’m definitely a remain person but would like a common markey and not a common government where we are represented by second rate politicians”, so why are you a remain person, we are represented by second rate politicians who many of us do not know and who are a bunch of misguided and undemocratic money grabbing idiots, if you left you would then only be represented by our own second rate politicians but at least we have control to do something about them and most will probably also know their names!

    • Philosopher

      20 June 2016 • 15:57

      yes as every democratic procedure. we need business and money not democracy and different opinions

    • Clive

      21 June 2016 • 19:01

      Roy,
      The UK hasn’t been a democracy for at least 40 years. Ted Heath took us into the Common Market with a pack of lies and the public voted 2 to 1 not to join.
      A democratic society is where the govt follows the will of the people, not the other way around.

    Comments are closed.