The EU Referundum for the UK.

[oldelanman]

The GOV.UK website has this on referendums ........

A referendum is a vote on a single issue.

Each referendum has different rules on who can vote in it.

To vote in a referendum you must:

be registered to vote
be 18 or over on the day of the referendum (‘polling day’)
be a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen
be resident at an address in the UK or Gibraltar (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years)
not be legally excluded from voting
You make one choice between 2 options. Votes are counted for the whole of the UK, not by constituency.

https://www.gov.uk/elections-in-the-uk/referendums

[JonB]

Look chaps, this is all very stimulating and all that, but it’s too late to argue about events in the past. We’d be better off talking about the future, n’est ce pas?

[billwill]

Just remember that this Ref excluded the votes of Brits living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK. It does not come even close to the definition of being inclusively democratic.

It would seem that this isn't even so, a typical exaggeration of the actual situation.

https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-e ... ndum/about

Who can vote in the referendum?

British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over who are resident in the UK or Gibraltar will be eligible to vote. UK citizens resident overseas will also be eligible to vote, provided they have been registered to vote at a UK address in the last 15 years..

So it was only UK citizens who had lived outside the UK for more than 15 years and couldn't be bothered to register for a vote in the UK, that could not vote in the 2016 referendum.

Seems quite reasonable to me,

[alan.barker]

As a british citizen there should be no time limit. For me i recieve a british pension and i want to vote to have some control.
This i have earned and deserve after working many years in England.
Alan

[englishmaninwales]

As a british citizen there should be no time limit. For me i recieve a british pension and i want to vote to have some control.
This i have earned and deserve after working many years in England.
Alan

In my view there is some validity for retention of voting rights as a result of being in receipt of a British pension (although arguable depending on type of pension) but not simply for being a British citizen. A time limit is reasonable; there are many British citizens living world wide who have lived out of the UK for many years (or even have never lived in the UK).

Malcolm

[RichC]

Okay, so when Scotland get their independence vote will the rest of the UK have a say?
Pls discuss...

[UAB807F]

well, I would imagine if the SNP were allowed free reign and continued their theme of how bad the English treat Scotland then an all UK vote would have them independent PDQ.

I doubt many folks in England/Wales/NI ever think seriously about Scotland other than somewhere to go for a bit of climbing on the bumpy bits so turnout would probably be low, but even so there would be sufficient numbers irked by the SNP message to overwhelm the Scottish "United" vote.

[69S4]

Yes it's all very siphonapteric :

"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum."

As the UK sees the EU - monolithic, self serving, arrogent, patronising, bureaucratic and distant but with major trading advantages,

As Scotland sees England - monolithic, self serving .... etc

Or maybe not.

[Frogelan]

A brief summary of the last few posts:

- Brits who live in Europe are theoretical citizens and deserve no citizenship rights.

Why is it that the Trump and Putin both allow their citizens to vote and do not terminate their rights ? (Not to mention every other European country - is n't there a slight problem there?).

And yet the Home Office has no working identity or intelligence system, it is quite easy to vote in several places...

There is clearly a problem with democracy in the UK especially as 54% of the population voted for a Remain party or for a re-run of the Referendum (Labour) and yet this still handed a majority to Cummings.

Sounds fairly unhinged...

- The SNP are somehow bad and Scottish despite devloution allows they to offer a decent education system, a working health system and looking after the poorer sections of society.

Personally (I'm not Scottish) if you read the facts, the adults in the room are in Scotland.

[UAB807F]

- Brits who live in Europe are theoretical citizens and deserve no citizenship rights.

I don't know where you get that from, you've got every right to return to the UK and determine the direction of the country you will then be residing in.

However, if you live in France (as per your sign-in) then why should you have a say in how 65m people living in a different country conduct their lives ?

Somewhat tongue in cheek, I'll see your 54% and raise you to over 80%.

That was the rough proportion of folks voting in the 2017 elections for either the Labour or Conservative parties, both of which campaigned to "Honour the Referendum and Leave the EU". Only they didn't, one party decided politics trumped the promises they made. That same party was soundly defeated two years later.

I get you're upset, but we've left the EU. No amount of complaining about democracy or otherwise will change that. If you want to change things, come back to the UK, start up a political party and get yourself elected to Parliament, that'll do it.

Brian

[Frogelan]

The 60 million people included 5 million who are EU citizens and UK citizens living in Europe. Those 5 million are those directly impacted by nationalistic policies.

The Conservatives won 46% of the vote but received a big majority. That is the system.

No one is giving up on England and Wales being part of the EU, least of all the EU.

This is nothing more than a temporary fad.

[elanfan1]

The adults in the room would have an independent Scotland bankrupt within 10 years:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... -last-year

and that’s a report from a left wing paper!

Note they wouldn’t be allowed to join the EU with their current debt which looks like it will only get worse. Appears SNP are like Labour unable to manage money.



Remainers are such sore losers. You lost, get over it. When your footie team loses do you keep moaning for the next 3 years or get on with it and look forward to the next match/season? BTW Liverpool 22pts clear at the top!

[JonB]

Hey Steve

The problem with it is that there was precious little analysis done by anyone prior to the referendum. For example, did anyone in the press mention “the Irish border problem”? I don’t recall it. Too busy arguing about the £350 million to the NHS. So it’s hard not to draw the conclusion that people voted based on misinformation. That alone might call the validity of the result in question.

However, it’s democracy in action, so whining incessantly about the outcome is pointless. Kind like this thread.

[elanfan1]

Maybe time to close it and move on?

[HCA]

I do not care what happens providing the exchange rate holds.

I love all the fact snippets though:

No one born this century have a say in what has happened.

Stephen Barclay is on record saying the likes of Norton Motorcycles will thrive after brexit. Four days in and they are bust!

Doncha just luv it