To wonder if a second vote is possible?

[LEMtheoriginal]

Could there be a 2nd referendum or is it too late?

Undemocratic is taking an advisory vote and using it to ruin an entire country.
You think it’s bad up north now, just wait.
Of course we should have another referendum and remain should be on it. If there’s enough idiots left to still vote out on a binding vote, then we should accept it. Not before.

I voted leave and if given the chance again I would vote remain. I almost instantly regretted it and hope that there will be another referendum.

So you want another advisory referendum then?

Georgie the only person I know who voted leave feels exactly the same. A deep sense of shame and regret that he is a part of this mess.

Unfortunately it’s voters like @Neshoma in the North that have propelled the tragedy that is now unfolding. People have been lied to for years, decades even - about what the EU is, what it’s for, its benefits, limitations , and the reality of organising international cooperation and collaboration.
There is absolutely no connection between decline of the north of England and the European Union, and anybody tries to make a link is deluding themselves that the economic past and future could or would be different outside the European Union.

No one can actually claim one thing that the European Union has forced on the UK, but these things are made up by a hostile press who have driven a devious agenda that panders to nationalism, xenophobia and hostility to the people who make up the most civilised part of the planet. And people believe them. People are easily fooled into voting what is absolutely not in their interests - and the case of Northern England is a case in point. Brexiteers want a low tax deregulated economy in which exploitation of the already disadvantaged, a lack of wealth distribution and a concentration of ever greater wealth in the city of London and international corporations benefits the tiny minority.
And people will fly the Union Jack as they are sold ever further down the river.
We had the chance to make a positive contribution - but we were always forced into complaining from the sidelines without any explanation of what was actually happening. We have allowed the petty, ignorant, hostile and bigoted to claim a high ground built on lies and stupidity and future generations will pay the price.

Ok I don’t feel shame!! But I do admit I made the wrong choice. I actually never thought leave would win so it was a bit of a rebel vote.

@Georgie I’m in the same position. I bitterly regret my decision. The majority of leave voters I know would vote remain in a second referendum. I desperately hope we get the opportunity to.

And yes I’m a dick for voting leave.

As well as changers on both sides; its worth also noting that the group that didn't vote may reconsider their decision not to vote in light of the substantial impact that Brexit may have on them and their DC.

As an immigrant to this country I am impressed by how you seem to hate us more than you love yourselves, or your children

Like, you will accept any poorer future, with incredible hardship lasting indefinitely as long as those immigrants get it worse

wow

time4chocolate David Cameron 'believed ' the Indy ref was binding - but we know how much we can trust him.

Legislation was in place and better executed than with the Brexit referendum. However, fundamentally Parliament can not be bound even by another parliament. The U.K. parliament is sovereign.

Referenda are advisory.

Legally we do not need another referendum to stop Brexit but politically we do.

I want Parliament to show some balls and act in the long term best interest of the country even if the decision is unpopular. Despite the belief of the British public democracy does not mean just doing what most people want.

Ok, I'll bite.

I voted leave.

I'm a university educated woman.

I read everything I could. Both sides websites (both lied by the way) but most importantly, I spent many many hours on the EU website. I looked at what they have done and I looked at what they planned. I couldn't in good conscience vote to remain.

As for the accusations of racism. My friendship group is made up of many nationalities and races. As is my family. I have family who work for security services who's stories from work would turn your hair grey (and not in the fashionable way). I have family from India who, despite being highly educated, can't get visas to settle here. I have friends who are desperately trying to get family to move here because where they grew up is a no go zone because of Mrs Merkel's open door then oh shit too many people turned up policy. Also, I want the best in the world to come here, not just limiting it to the (predominantly white Christian) EU countries.

I live in a northern town and am from the north east. Jobs go to immigrants because they will work for minimum wage or do self employed jobs for less than minimum wage. They will put up with shitty conditions which most in the UK won't.

And those wanting another vote, are we going for best of 3, best of 7, best of 15?

glenthebattleostrich thanks for that explanation but exactly how is leaving the EU going to help?

People working for less than minimum wage - how will leaving the EU stop that? Most immigrants are non EU. The British government needs to prosecute unscrupulous employers.

Will leaving the EU rationalise our immigration policy, possibly but unlikely.

Will we refuse to take non EU refugees and asylum seekers if we leave the EU? Will leaving the EU mean we lose our responsibility to the poor and dispossessed in the world? Absolutely not.

Mouse mousse, I think you misunderstood, I am providing immigration. But controlled immigration. And of course we need to help those who need it.

Yes unscrupulous employers should be prosecuted. I'd also quite like a pet unicorn bit that's not going to happen either. The sheer volume of accessible labor has driven down wages.

I don't deny that the Tories have screwed up negotiations. Dr Richard North proposed a very good gradual withdrawal which would have benefited both sides. Unfortunately the only good thing you can say about Teresa may is that she isn't Jeremy Corbyn TBH.

I heard a very interesting comment from a chap on radio 4 this week. He said that one of the reasons so many people voted leave was because they felt that the government were not listening to them and their concerns. If the government or other political parties now try to overturn that vote then this will absolutely prove that no one in government is listening and will cause massive problems.

I'm always confused by the accusation that the leave campaign lied about money being available for the NHS if we left. I thought they said this money could be available and we would be free to choose where to spend the money we would be saving.

The remain campaigners also said that we could change the EU from inside if we stayed. How is that not also a lie given our success so far?

The reality is that no-one knew what was to come and we all had to choose more of the same or a leap of faith.

Moussemoose - it was in the Edinburgh agreement signed by all concerned parties that the outcome would be respected. I can only imagine what Nicola Sturgeon would say if, in the light of a win, DC turned around and said sorry love it was only advisory!

If, as you believe, all referenda are advisory and you call a second one it too would also be advisory? If you don’t act on the result of the 1st you cant act on the 2nd either. It’s the whole reason why you can’t have remain as an option again. Unless of course you want all out civil unrest.

@glenthebattleostrich

Do you have any concerns about the progress of negotiations and the risks associated with a no-deal situation? Do you view the last 2.5 years of UK political turmoil as inconsequential and irrelevant in terms of Brexit? Do you have no concerns over EU's rejection of chequers and the lack of viable alternative proposals that don't trash the UK economy.

Personally located in the North East and don't recognise your description of "jobs go to immigrants" not least because the % of immigrants is tiny (compared to Birmingham for example) not just in my town but in the region as a whole. Most foreign residents appear to be students (from EU, China, RoW) and don't typically work. North East is still recovering from the decimation of heavy industry and mining in 70s/80s and Brexit threatens that recovery. As one example, Brexit would negate one of Nissan's key reasons for being in Sunderland and the repercussions of withdrawal would cascade beyond Sunderland to Newcastle and beyond.

Does none of this give you any cause to reconsider or were you aware of all of it back in '16 and see us as proceeding on track and as expected?

@neshoma @londonrach I hail from 'the north' and I'm a staunch remainer. I live in Scotland and the majority of Scots voted remain. How do you explain that? North East England, where I grew up, had a high leave vote, largely due to racism, fear and ignorance.

I would love to see a second vote happen...it won't though. I do agree that it would make us even more of a global joke than we are already. It's a huge mess and a total farce though. I think a lot of leave voters have their heads firmly buried in the sand, especially from what I'm reading here. Whatever your stance, surely we all agree that the politicians are making a massive bollocks out of it all?

time4chocolate I understand about the Edinburgh agreement and I believe an vote for independence would have been respected as the legislation was significantly better thought through and drafted.

However, constitutionally all referenda are advisory because parliament is sovereign. Yes a second Brexit ref would be advisory. The U.K. is a representative democracy our constitution does not work well with referenda which is why we shouldn't have had one.

Parliament will make the final decision.

glenthebattleostrich leaving the EU will stop FOM but the majority of U.K. immigration is not from the EU. The U.K. government could have moved to control it at any time. We don't need to leave the EU and ruin our economy to do this.

Many of the poorest immigrants are refugees and asylum seekers would you suggest we turn away these people if they are not doctors?

Leaving the EU will not provide solutions to the issues you raise and will only serve to make us poorer.

@indistinct you're saying it better than I ever could! Excellent point 're Nissan.

If we do get another vote it would surely just be on deal or no deal. A referendum is supposed to be once in a lifetime. That is what they said about the Scottish one. Before referendum we were told government and parliament would abide by peoples vote. Now that seems less likely. If they don't honour vote democracy will be denied and become meaningless.

It's too late. We are screwed.

The problem with the 1st vote is that people did not understand what they were voting for.

atotalshambles. Could you be any more patronising? So presumably you voted to remain as you have a superior intellect but those who voted to leave are all poor ignorant fools with no powers of comprehension? DFOD.

A point worth making again and again is that the UK had a Baby boom after the war and again in the 1960s - creating a spike in population of those in their 50s and 70s. Since the NHS, people living longer - and this is a good thing for all of us.
BUT the number of children per family has dropped from around 2.7 to 1.3. There are fewer people of working age as a percentage of the population than at any time ever. And their taxes have to pay for the pensions healthcare and social care of that larger population of older people who are also living longer.
So - we need far more people of working age to pay into the pot! We could try encouraging families to have more children and wait twenty years - but it is unlikely to work - or - we have immigrants.
What’s crucial is that areas of high immigration actually benefit from the increased contributions of more working people - with investment in housing, transport, schools and services. Under this government the opposite has happened - and people have blamed the EU!

No

The problem with the 1st vote is that people did not understand what they were voting for.
[Outraged response]: Could you be any more patronising?
I don't think this is necessarily a patronising thing to say, although some people might intend it that way. In 2016, how many people understood the possible repercussions for Northern Ireland, or had really thought about how leaving the EU would impact on JIT manufacturing, or whether our food supplies were secure, or how much - as predicted by the government's own impact assessments - the UK economy would be seriously adversely affected, even in the best case scenario?
If they did take into account all the above and still chose to vote leave, you really have to wonder why they are so unpatriotic as to knowingly cause so much damage to the UK, NI, Gibraltar, etc.