Andrew Martin asks (Letters, September 24th) why people accept the result of a general election, but some are not happy with the EU Referendum result. The answer is simple.
The House of Commons briefing paper 07212 June 2015 clearly states (page 25, section 5) that the referendum bill ‘does not contain any requirement for the UK Government to implement the results of the referendum’ and that it is consultative, enabling the electorate ‘to voice an opinion’.
Many countries set a threshold for a referendum, because (same briefing paper, page 26, section 6) they incorporate the idea ‘that major constitutional change is something more important than the result of ordinary elections and should therefore be the outcome of something more than a simple plurality of the votes’.
(60% is the threshold for change in many countries, in some it is even higher)
The briefing concludes that for the UK ‘any requirement for a threshold has to be included in the individual referendum legislation’. This has not been done.
We are now facing one of our biggest constitutional changes in years, based on an advisory referendum with a very slender majority.
Christine Tempest
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