unsure about the petition

[wishfulthink]

I voted to remain but I just don't know how I feel about the petition - it's a democracy and the voting is now done. The damage and hurt is already here, it won't go away if the petition is successful will it??

Not so much an AIBU as an is there any point? Please can someone explain it to me...

Unfair demographics

I have doubts about this - the terms were clear before the start, the debate has happened and the result is the result. However, I also think that in a case like this, the result should not have been based on simple majority - a decision affecting so many people should not be based on such a narrow margin - two thirds majority would have made more sense. It didn't happen like that of course, and hindsight is wonderful.

Regardless, I think the petition is worth it just because regardless of which side won, it was too close to be definitive. If Remain had won, I'd be wanting to re-think a decision made on a simple majority on something so important.

If the leave voters are seen as xenophobes then surely the argument to say older people shouldn't vote because it doesn't affect them is being ageist.

I wasn't going to sign the petition for many of the reasons given above, however I was talking to a friend this morning who is angry and upset about voting Leave - which she did solely in the belief the £350M would be going to the NHS. So, I have now signed it, in the hope that future referenda (whether this one is repeated or not) are conducted more fairly/truthfully; I doubt it will have much of a difference on this issue though. I did not know there was a Referendum Commission in Ireland - that seems a good idea.

I have signed and will sign any of the protest petitions doing the rounds. I just want the numbers to be as overwhelming as possible so that they get noticed. There is a petition requiring a repeat allowing 16+ youngsters a vote and one calling the leave campaign to account for their U turn on the £350 m pledge to the NHS. This may be a scatter gun approach to protesting but it is all there is and serves as a quasi referendum. If you are a disappointed remainer or a regrexiter, just get signing to take some of the wind out of the sails of the triumphant leave camp.

I don't really agree with having another referendum because 'the people' who I vehemently disagree with have decided Leave according to the rules set out.

I did sign the petition. Because I do believe that referenda to change things like sovereignty and the like should be a two thirds majority, not a straight majority. I also think 16 and 17 year old should have had the right to vote. Mostly because at 17 I was probably the most informed, well-read and passionate about politics I will ever be.

If the leave voters are seen as xenophobes then surely the argument to say older people shouldn't vote because it doesn't affect them is being ageist.

It is ageist. People won't admit it though as it doesn't fit their agenda.

I disagree with the petition, won't be signing it AND actually felt sick when it came out that we were leaving. I voted to remain.

If we have another go and remain win, then what? Leave people put together a petition? The majority of voters want this now it's time to see how it goes.

I'm just mildly happy that I live in an area that the majority voted to remain

Also, to add to my above, would it not be better in these types of votes were compulsory? Then the 52% would be the majority of all people able to vote rather than 52% is a majority of the voting public?
Also, WHY is politics not taught in school? I read before I vote and I make an informed decision based on everything I have read, however I do not know anywhere near enough to make properly informed decisions

Well if they allow 16-17 yr olds to vote, then I'll start a petition to enable my 12 month old to vote!

BBC analysis, just posted:

You can't simply invent new hurdles if you are on the losing side... However, there is talk around Westminster- in the wake of a plunging currency and falling share prices - of whether any deal on Brexit negotiated with the EU should then put to a referendum further down the line.

The UK will remain an EU member for the next two years at least - so it's not over until it's over.

Some would greet this with horror and cries of 'foul' - others with relief.

A democracy isn't about filling the electorate with a pack of lies and then expecting a reasoned response. For the sake of the Leave voters who may suffer the most if the economy contracts on the back of Brexit (going on the demographics), we should demand our political leaders do whatever they can to ensure that Brexit is what the British public actually want. 48/52 is too close to take a chance, regardless of which way round the results were. Farage agrees! Here: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nigel-farage-eu-referendum_uk_576e6585e4b08d2c56393f12

just get signing to take some of the wind out of the sails of the triumphant leave camp

I don't believe you are old enough to have voted. 13, tops.

A referendum generally is only to consult the public (including this one). According to David Allen Green who is the FT columnist and a legal expert "no legal provision was included in the EU referendum legislation that requires the UK Parliament to act in accordance with the outcome of the referendum." Link to article.

The brexiters were fed lies - currently there is a thread with the OP raging about how freedom of labour will still remain even with an exit so those that made their vote based on immigration within the EU being tightened will likely be a bit peeved they were fed lies. Daniel Hannan has retracted the immigration claims.

I think based on this new information that has been revealed (which should have been transparent from the start but then the brexit would have lost their main arguments) the people should be given a chance to make an informed decision. If it comes back as leave still then we need to accept it (although still it is down to the governement to hash out the final decision). I am a remainer, I will be monumentally pissed off if it came back as leave again but I would have to accept the nation had made a decision that was fully informed instead of going off half cocked listening to Johnson, and Farage with his posters that are vaguely reminiscent of Nazi Propaganda.

I'm devastated but I'm not signing. It's pointless.

If the petition gets more than 60% of the voting public supporting it, I may think it has some validity.

I don't agree with the petition's numbers, which is the main reason I've not signed it. If anyone wants to start a petition asking for a) 16/17 year olds to be given a vote in future referenda, and b) that the result be non-binding unless one side or the other gain more than 50% of the actual number of registered voters, I'll have a look. BTW I voted Leave!

I would hate to see voting made compulsory. The right to abstain is just as much a democratic choice as any other. Also some of the people who were registered but didn't vote may have been incapable of doing so - I'm thinking of those who are too seriously ill to have a clue what's going on, and also of the people in a nearby residential care home, where there are 24 residents on the electoral roll, but they never vote as they have profound learning disabilities. They have to be on the roll though so that their credit rating isn't damaged, even though all their money is administered by their carers.

Alpacalypse The result was non-binding anyway. It was never going to be a legally binding decision. The government were asking the people but failed to give them clear facts (and yes I know, MP lie but in this instance they should have given the facts), this is not a GE where in four years we can change our mind. Once that Article 50 has been triggered there will never be any going back to how it is now. We may get the chance to re-enter if we leave but not on the terms as we have now.

I think most ordinary people have one main issue in mind when choosing which way to vote. I'd like to think that we all scrutinise the small print behind all the claims but I'm pretty sure most people don't. I know a LOT of people who work in the NHS and voted on the basis of that funding promise, and I reckon there'll be many other people who rely heavily on the healthcare system who were swayed by the same headline. To have that casually shrugged off as 'a mistake' only hours after the polls closed is a MASSIVE blow to democracy.

As time goes on it's emerging that that wasn't the only false promise either. If we're talking 'where will it end' I think that's something that needs to go under the microscope too - where will it end if campaigns can be built around attractive lies with no accountability?

I know a LOT of people who work in the NHS and voted on the basis of that funding promise.
Wasn't that promise made by NF? He isn't even an MP! I'm a bit miffed as to how his sideshow ranting was given any airtime as if was part of the official campaign. This whole thing is such a farce.
I don't know about this whole petition thing either, I'm going to send a massive rant to my MP instead.

Boris Johnson certainly embraced the NHS promise.
www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2016/05/14/97905329_BRISTOL_ENGLAND_-_MAY_14__Conservative_MP_Boris_Johnson_speaks_as_he_visits_Bristol_on_May-large_trans++KjggCdpvXjoraOzAlyzu1MOSRhbr0ZABex7Vh5dC_YU.jpg
I have a feeling that Farage's ranting might have been intended to deter voters by being so extreme? I don't believe that BoJo ever dreamed he'd find himself on the winning side and in a position where he had to deliver on any of the promises. To him this was only ever intended to be a bigger scale rerun of his glory days in the Oxford debating society.
Agreed that writing to your MP is an excellent plan. It's interesting to note that David Lammy MP has raised the point about parliament being able to decide whether to implement the referendum.

I've signed the petition because I hope that the deafening silence from Boris, Gove, Gideon and Dave is because they're frantically working out how they can halt the process. Possibly by calling a General Election and getting out of following through with Brexit. The more evidence that people are unhappy with the result of the referendum, the more likely this is.

They lost a democratic vote. Even though they added extra time for people to register, to get more votes in their favour! They won't accept the result. Appalling and shocking.

The more evidence that people are unhappy with the result of the referendum, the more likely this is.

What about those that were in the majority then.

You seem to not care about them or their decision as long as you get what you want.

Clearly, the "Remain" voters are simply not accepting the majority vote when the result simply doesn't suit them!!!!! Thats the reality. They didn't raise these "issues" when they thought they were going to win. Bad losers, manipulative and anti-democratic, in a nutshell.

Wasps I wanted the status quo and it's been changed- the Brexit campaign was based on falsehoods and the main players, bar Farage don't want it either. As more people realise this and show their discontent, there's a greater chance that the government could refuse to implement Brexit.