To think the Brexit referendum result should be set aside if allegations of corruption are proved?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Vanity Fair article about this

Just like the US election last year, there is more and more evidence emerging now that some parts of the Leave campaign were fundedy in very shady ways. Also, social media was manipulated to feed personalised fake news to voters before the referendum. Even the ludicrous #usepens seems to have been pushed by Russian bots as a way of undermining confidence in the electoral process.

We are teetering on the brink of making the biggest political mistake of my lifetime (and I'm in my 50s and remember a good many other bad times). That's bad and bad enough, but if it wasn't even a legitimate vote surely it should just be set aside?

There have been a few interesting letters in FT about this, Im posting it now as these threads usually end up going one way

twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/809768145804267521

I always wonder why leave voters are so outraged by whenever it's mentioned that when people know how much brexit will cost them and full implications are known, there should be a fresh vote. "Democracy!!" they cry! Surely it's democratic for people to be allowed to change their mind when presented with full facts. I.e. The country will be far far poorer and oh yeah... Brexit won't stop refugees.

Also ambrr

If leave would win by such a massive amount if there was another referendum then why not do another one just to cement the mandate

Sorry amber

When the referendum was taken, no one really knew what was likely to happen. Now we have a lot more information. Surely it's eminently democratic to have another vote to make sure the "will of the people" is really for going down this path?

Not going to waste my breath - pathetic.

Is it? Is it pathetic to suggest that, as it becomes clearer and clearer that Brexit is going to be a very very expensive catastrophe and the campaign was orchestrated in a very shady way, people should be given the chance to look at what leaving is actually going to mean?

I'm not sure it would help, because people generally don't think 'oh I was wrong before, I feel silly now, I'll look again at the facts' - sadly, idiots will just double-down and refuse even more steadfastly to think it through, because to admit they were wrong would be intolerable. So I don't hold out much hope.

But in a perfect world, people would be able to look at the catastrophe we're on the brink of and have the wit to try to stop it, and be allowed to.

Isn't it a bit late for all this? As a pp pointed out, article 50 has been triggered. The status quo is no longer an option - a vote to "remain" now would not be remain but to negotiate a new relationship - we can't just say "it's Ok, we're staying" now.

Yes it is pathetic. I could understand if say ten years down the line there was another one held, but after a year? What a joke. Like someone else mentioned, it is not the U.K's decision to make anymore. A50 has been triggered and the only ones that could stop it is the unanimous decision of the 27 to do so.

It just founds very patronising. Now, now, you couldn't possibly have actually known what you were voting for, you must have been outsmarted by the right-wing media, silly thing, did you remember to take your tablets before you voted and perhaps that's why you were confused? etc etc. Yawn.

I don't think we will end up leaving.

I don't think it's possible.

If Theresa May said she wasn't leaving, I suspect the 26 would be delighted to welcome us back to common sense and reason.

The referendum was advisory, not binding. The consequences are only appearing more disastrous by the day - I would have thought that anyone would like to have a look at that and at least have the option to vote on what's actually going to happen before it does.

You need to let it go this.

How can it not be a legitimate vote? I don't expect all the Remain money was pure as the driven snow either and this.

And legally, we leave 2 years after notifying the EU we're leaving. We can't not leave. We'd have to apply to rejoin. And that would be on the EU's terms, too.

So I'll repeat: you need to let it go

I think we need to vote again

I know of remainers who have said they would vote leave if it was run again as they don't believe there should be another referendum

That's always being spouted on MN and I don't believe any informed remain voter would change their vote to leave.

Just get over it. It happened. Now we should've focusing on using it to make things better instead of screwing it up because remainers can't accept it and are hell bent on sabotaging it in the hopes that we can go crawling back to the EU.

That's always being spouted on MN and I don't believe any informed remain voter would change their vote to leave.

You are entitled to believe what you like. It doesn't however make it incorrect.

I think this thread just goes to show that there shouldn't have been a referendum in the first place. Far too complex an issue for the general public to decide with a yes /no answer, especially as the Leave campaign was full of lies and deliberate vagueness. I think it's also clear that a huge number of MPs are incapable of making a decision that is in the country's best interests as well!
Democracy did not stop on June 23rd 2016. We have a different government now to the one that held the referendum. Parliament can not bind itself. There is nothing to stop a (Parliamentary) vote now from reversing the Article50 decision - whether we could revoke it unilaterally is not 100% clear, but Donald Tusk has made it clear that the EU would welcome us back, so I wouldn't worry about that.

These threads always go the same way.

Apparently all remainers are wonderful and all leavers are idiots, if you believe some posters.

If only life was so simple hey.

Not all remainers are wonderful. Some of them also hold idiotic views on other things.

IMHO, it is getting a tad boring 😬

Both sides are as bad as each other.

If another vote is held, so be it.

If that should happen, then I would have no objection if come the GE, then we had a re run if the wrong party was elected, seems reasonable to me me I.e. keep voting until the right result is obtained 😀👍

Question is, what is the right result?

Article 50 has been triggered. Europe will be bloody minded about negotiations as a warning to other countries not to even think about leaving.

Like it or not, both sides will have to compromise, if not, both sides loose especially Germany as the money we put into Europe will eventually stop.

Who will agree to plug that financial gap?

Strange how the latest Westminster scandal has erupted now 😀

Distraction tactics?

I kind of hope that the entire bloody car crash takes place now, just to see who or what gets scapegoated once we're out and the Brexit Utopia fails to materialise.

The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked

www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy

If we are going to stop things due to corruption where would you stop? It seems all parties are corrupt, leave and remain both lied and were corrupt, the EU is also corrupt. I'm not saying ignore it the individuals should be punished but you can't go back and change votes or policies.