It's a Parliamentary Democracy, Stupid

One of the reasons I decided, on the morning of the Brexit referendum, to vote to Remain, was that, looking at the Leave case, it was clear they HADN'T THE FOGGIEST OF WHAT TO DO IF THEY WON.  (There were other reasons, one being that though leftwards sympathetic to leaving a capitalist club, I wasn't going to be in the company of those who, be frank, voted to get the wogs out and the Poles and anyone strangely brown etc.   Oh, wait for the howls of denial.)

Events, sadly, have borne that out manyfold times.   Boris the Bold (or is it Two-faced, as in looking both ways) slunk out of view and into the post of Foreign Secretary where he is stymied by May and the real Brexiteers.   

Farage simply buggered off.  No kinder way to put it, off to serenade a Trump and also see UKIP descend into unedifying panto farce.

Not much better on the Remain side, they all scurry around saying they will observe the "will of the people" forgetting that it is Parliamentary Election, secured and extended through struggle and oppression over several hundred  years, which determines that Will and that the whole EU issue was, as claimed by Brexit, the Sovereignty of Parliament.   "Get decision-making back to Westminster" was the ostensible call.    

Now, if it wasn't really that at all,what WAS it? Well, Farage made it clear from the outset of the campaign, it was immigration that would do the trick and if anyone dares to claim that xenophobic fear was not a major driving force of the Leave campaign, they are deluded or lying or both.   I don't care how many times we hear "Oh that's not fair" now when we look at all the racist abuse and worse heaped upon Poles and others since.

There seems to be also amongst many Leavers an expectation that Brexit just 'happens' or even that it has happened.   "Well, we voted out so we're out."  Well, actually, er ....  No.   That's what all the fuss is about and we should be really grateful to the lady who used our law courts to haul us and Mrs May back into the cold daylight of constitutional reality.

The judges made it clear.   It is simple. We have an unwritten constitution based on interpretation of statute and common law over centuries.   That in turn is based on another reality,   We had a struggle including a bloody civil war (or 2), a period of dictatorship under Cromwell, before, ignoring James II, we finally arrived at the Supremacy of Parliament.    Not of Referendum, note.    They always will be advisory.   WE ELECT OUR MP's TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR THE NATION, whatever we say via referendum is not a decision, it's a view, is all. 

The irony is that Brexiteers, who pushed their legitimate case re that sovereignty ('decisions at Westminster not in Brussells'  blah blah spout&sprout), they now are squealing like piglets in case those awful MPs we all elected go and do something else other than Brexit.

Probably, no worries on that score, the elite all seem to be queuing up to say the vote must stand, 17.5 million etc.   So, may be I so bold as to ask what about the 16.5 million who voted against (nearly half)?   What about those who did not or could not vote, such as those Brits in Europe whom we appear to have told you can go and stuff yourselves.   Nice if it all goes tits-up and they are forced back?   Hey, got a spare area in Calais?    "I have a right to return and Bognor looks just the place for old folk like me".  "Sorry, mate, the Syrian refugees have finally moved out of the Reception Centres, off you go now."    (Luckily they won't  have to measure age from their teeth, however.  "Er I got these on the NHS around 20 years ago.")

There are SERIOUS issues and if they are not resolved in a way that will not seriously harm the people of this country and the unity of the UK, are Brexiteers really insistent we leave come what may?

So:

• no access to the Single Market - all serious folk say this HAS to happen, it WILL happen, and never mind johnny EU foreigner saying we also have to have freedom of movement of people
  
• the UK breaks up, Scotland leaves, because its people want to stay in the EU and that will help the SNP when, not if, there is another independence referendum
  
• we don't go back to the people either via a General Election  or a 2nd Referendum if the negotiations produce a result which looks bad for the UK
  
• the situation in NI with the common border issues 'develops' so as to make community and cross-border relations problemmatical
  
• the country's economic situation takes a downturn for the very worst based on global reaction to the ongoing situation.

I would say that in the above circumstances, we ought to be glad there are 600+ MPs charged with ensuring the good and safe government of the country.   All of them should be very clear about the outcome of the Referendum:   for every 35 to leave, 33 to stay and 60 not heard.   There is also the age divide - I am not the only one who is worried not only about low turn-out amongst the young but also the significant changes to voter registration which guaranteed an outcome that many would be left voteless.   It is THEIR future.  This was a vote by the old about the future for the young.

I am also asking, what is it that is NOT BEING DONE in our education system to teach about the importance of voting?   Also, we have them in one place in their final years in secondary education - so, use that to REGISTER them for goodness sake.   It is as important as being VACCINATED....

No MPs will read this, BUT, if any should, or anyone reading this happens to pop across one anytime soon, DO REMIND THEM THAT IT'S THEIR JOB TO MAKE DECISIONS, NOT A BLOODY REFERENDUM OF THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND HELPED BY SOME MADMEN.