New Left Foot Forward polling shows the public have turned against Brexit - a true democracy would give them a second vote.
Even though David Davis and I don’t agree on many things, we do agree on this (which he said in a speech on the EU in 2012):
“If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy.”
Davis’ infamous quote now seems more relevant than ever, as the latest poll backs a public vote if the UK secures No Deal with the EU.
The BMG Research poll for Left Foot Forward showed that a majority of the public now backs a referendum on staying in the EU, if the government fails to secure a trade deal.
The majority is even deeper amongst 18-24-year-olds: 74% back a vote and as many as two-thirds believe ‘Brexit should be stopped’.
These results are not surprising as, so far in the negotiations, Theresa May has disregarded the hopes, dreams and aspirations of 16 million citizens, including the people whose lives Brexit will affect the most: the younger generation.
75 percent of younger people voted for a different future – a future in the EU. In the weeks and months ahead, the Government’s exclusive stance needs to change.
What’s become clear is that, as the true implications of Brexit unfold, people are starting to question the Brexit decision.
A decision which will deliver none of the main promises of the ‘Leave’ campaign and cause so much damage to people’s jobs, the NHS, the economic stability of the country and the work, study and retirement opportunities of millions of people.
We now know that there won’t be an extra £350 million per week for the NHS or dozens of Free Trade Agreements ready to be signed when we leave the EU.
We also know that immigration will not be reduced to the tens of thousands, that the Government will continue to be subject to the rulings of the ECJ or other International Courts of Arbitration and that we will not have the same economic benefits outside of the EU as we currently enjoy inside.
There appears to be a growing consensus that, if we cannot stay in the EU (the Liberal Democrats still believe this is the best option for UK families and jobs), we need a deal that keeps us as close to the EU Single Market and Customs Union as possible.
Our children’s futures must not be ruined by the hallucinogenic vision of the Brexit elite who, from the safety of their stately homes or large bank balances, want to leave the EU, regardless of the damage to our economy, the lives of the ‘just about managing’ and our political standing in the world.
If David Davis meant what he said about democracy, he and the rest of the Government would let the public have control over this process.
That is why the Liberal Democrats will continue to push for the Government to give the British people the final say on the deal, with an option to ‘Exit from Brexit’ and to remain in the EU. Anything less will be a kick in the teeth for our democracy.
Tom Brake MP is the Liberal Democrats’ Spokesperson for Exiting the EU. He tweets here.
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12 Responses to “Tom Brake: Attitudes to Brexit have shifted. We need a public vote on the deal”
Jason
Another one who dislikes it when a vote doesn’t go your way? Get over it.
Boffy
We had a vote in 1975, Jason, that voted overwhelmingly to join the EEC, and thereby the EU when it was formed, because the proposal to create the EU by 1982, was already known in 1975. That vote to join the EU was not won by a narrow margin of 52:48, but by 2:1. So, Jason why don’t you follow your own dictum and get over having lost that vote? Why was it that the nationalists never got over losing that vote, and continued to try to undermine it in the 40 years following it? Why is it that Farage et al, had said that if they lost the 2016 vote as they thought (and many actually hoped, because they had no idea what to do if they won) they would, they would simply continue to oppose that decision?
The fact is not just that many people realise they were lied to by the Brexiters, but even over the last 18 months, a sufficient number of those very elderly voters who made up the majority of the Leave vote have died, whilst a significant number of the 16-17 years olds whose future is most affected, and who were denied a vote in 2016, are now old enough to vote. What you are actually calling for is for the current electorate to be dictated to by a previous electorate, many of whom are now dead. Not only is that undemocratic it is simply idiotic! For my part I don’t think the dead should have priority over the living.
greg
@Boffy – by your reckoning it was the old that took and kept the UK in the common market; it is that generation that now realise that they had made a mistake; we are the same people.
And please, save the “we all knew what we were voting for in 1975” – we were no better informed then than we are now; but somehow we were all wise heads then.
It seems that the UK people are ignorant of everything EU when it comes to allowing the EU to decide what rights we may or may not have, through treaties that we have no say on, and yet we immediately become the font of all EU knowledge when it comes to choosing somebody to take his/her place on the EU gravy train every five years?
The Lisbon Treaty was an affront to democracy; and many lifelong Labour supporters were appalled by its imposition; Maastricht (or any other EU treaty) was no different.
And, just as then, so in the future will our children be subject to treaties that they will not have any say on, and they will be dragged into the EU’s ambitions – the truthful nature of which are now rising to the surface.
I ask again – will the EU’s true ambitions be displayed on billboards – or buses – in any proposed referendum re-run, and will you be supporting the move towards a United States of Europe, with all that that entails?
Or will we continue to be bullied by a corporate establishment into having treaties rammed down our throats with the people having no say.
Boffy
@Greg,
In 1975, there were lots of people who voted in that election, who voted to join, and who are now long since dead. Today’s old people are not the same old people who voted to join the EEC in 1975. And actually, having gone through the 1975 referendum, it was conducted on a much higher political level than was the last one, which the media turned into simply a question of competing Tory celebrities.
I made the point about knowing that joining the EEC in 1975 meant also joining the EU for two reasons. Firstly, the Brexiters, including people like Farage have argued that when people voted in 1975, they only voted to join a Common Market, not the EU, but that is not true. The decision to create the EU had already been made prior to the 1975, and so the decision to join the EEC was done on the basis of knowing that it entailed also then becoming part of the EU. Secondly, those Brexitremists have previously claimed that the decision to join the EEC was justifiable because what they agree with is having such economic ties. But, that is precisely what now the discussion over whether to remain in the Customs UNion is all about, because the Customs Union, is what Britain joined when it joined the Common Market in 1975!
You say,
“It seems that the UK people are ignorant of everything EU when it comes to allowing the EU to decide what rights we may or may not have, through treaties that we have no say on, and yet we immediately become the font of all EU knowledge when it comes to choosing somebody to take his/her place on the EU gravy train every five years?”
But,you could say the same thing about voters having their say every five years about electing people to the Westminster gravy train couldn’t you. On that basis you should be arguing against parliamentary democracy itself, and coming straight out to argue for a totalitarian regime, where the chore of voting and acquainting yourself with political realities is lifted from the shoulders of voters.
You say,
“The Lisbon Treaty was an affront to democracy; and many lifelong Labour supporters were appalled by its imposition; Maastricht (or any other EU treaty) was no different.”
The Poll tax was no less also an affront to democracy, as was the Iraq War, and our children will live with the consequences of the latter for years to come too. But, in fact these “affronts to democracy” are nothing more than the actual reality of bourgeois democracy. There are millions of people in large parts of Britain, who would never have voted in Tory governments, or supported the policies they implemented. Certainly that was true of Scotland, where the Tories were virtually eliminated as a species. Yet, if every minority, every part of the country that found itself at variance with the majority then sought to separate from the rest of the country, we would be back to the situation several centuries ago, where in place of a nation state, we would have competing kingdoms!
“And, just as then, so in the future will our children be subject to treaties that they will not have any say on, and they will be dragged into the EU’s ambitions – the truthful nature of which are now rising to the surface.”
But they do have a say on these matters, via the election of UK governments whose Ministers take part in the drafting of such Treaties and have a veto over them. If you object to not having a say on the Lisbon Treaty, blame the Blair government, for not giving you one, not the EU. If you complain about not having a say on the Maastricht Treaty, blame the Thatcher government who did not give you one, not the EU. If you want a say on future legislation, blame the current Tory government for trying to deny you or MP’s any say, by its pushing through of Henry VIII Clauses in its Brexit Bill.
If you want a bigger say on future EU Treaties that will inevitably affect Britain whether the UK is in or out, then don’t vote to have no say at all, which is what Brexit will mean. Instead join with workers across the EU to bring about democratic reform within the EU itself.
Actually, the EU does proclaim its intentions of creating a United States of Europe and ever closer union. It has a vision of where it wants to go, which the current government certainly does not have, because it can’t even agree with itself. I certainly support the creation of a United States of Europe and all that entails, and perhaps the good thing about Brexit is that Britain’s sabotaging role in that process will be brought to an end. Absolutely I support a United States of Europe, and the fight for a Workers Europe within it, based upon a unified European working-class, fighting for the creation of a Socialist United States of Europe, and then the World.
Will
Are those supporting brexit happy to make the sacrifice in terms of employment, living standards, and worse public services for the sake of “freedom” or do they believe we can somehow avoid the economic consequences?
I believe unpicking these assumptions is the key to understanding Brexit.