Grandpa:
It’s maybe going a bit far suggesting they targeted the gullible. A lot of people had their minds made up long before the campaign ended. The EU was a convenient scapegoat at the time for so much that was going wrong in the country.
It’s not really disputed though that the campaign was based more on emotion than facts. It’s not really disputed either that we currently have the most inept and incompetent government in history.
Anyway, we are where we are. It’s certainly made more people take an interest in politics, which can’t be bad.
I’d disagree that it’s going too far. From Blair onwards, every PM promised a referendum and you have to wonder why it took so long to have one, or why PM May is trying to spin Brexit out for as long as possible. The reason is that each passing year produced more young remain voters and removed the majority leave voters who died out. There is truth in the suggestion that had Cameron been able to wait another five years he may well have got his remain majority. I’d also disagree that the EU is a scapegoat, it’s the reason why things have gone wrong.
You’re right though that remain minority vote was based on emotion. We can’t exist outside the EU, there will be massive job losses and no one will trade with us are based on belief, not fact. So there’s a degree of gullibility involved.
I also wonder whether PM May is as stupid as she performs. Leaders of any country aren’t known for their stupidity. Remainer PM May is doing her level best to delay Brexit with deals and extensions and recently had to backtrack quickly on her proposal that parliament vote for another referendum on one of her deals and the commons leader Leadsom resigned in protest followed by a huge outcry. Parliament know exactly what she’s doing it’s an old EU trick. Previously, the French, Dutch and Irish were also allowed a referendum on the European Constitution and voted no. A few paragraphs were changed, it was presented as the Lisbon Treaty so the original vote didn’t count and they were made to keep voting until the answer was yes. That’s exactly what May is trying to do with her ‘deals.’
And yes, it has certainly made more people interested in politics, but also in the deceit and lies that the current government is involved in. The problem is that many really do have low information and base those around their own subjective beliefs. I’m frankly amazed at a minority lack of basic general knowledge here.
The leaders of the EU member states in 2004 at the resigning of the treaty of Rome, all agreed that the people should have the final choice and that every nation offer referendums, but these had to be within a 2 year grace period as that would be the length of time required for the laws within the treaty of Rome to be embedded within the legal systems of each nation.
But if any nation had a no result, I’d would halt the process and things would need to be adjusted to compensate.
Jack Straw announced shortly after the signing of the treaty that Britain would hold a referendum late 2006, this was already leaving it a little late. It was later postponed indefinitely by Blair.
Blair took the decision on behalf of the people to accept the treaty and to continue with the process.