Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what people are afraid of with a People's Vote?

832 replies

Bearbehind · 21/10/2018 17:36

Estimates reckon there were nearly a million people at the Peoples Vote march yesterday so support for it is high.

Why is it such a threat to others though?

If you're so convinced Leaving is the right thing to do for the country, why wouldn't you want that to be endorsed now people have a clearer idea of what is to come?

Or is it that you're worried Leave would now lose as it's been made clear there are no upsides?

In which case why do you want to go ahead with it anyway?

OP posts:
mycatplotsdeath · 21/10/2018 19:15

All politics are dishonest,but the vote stands

MotherAbigail · 21/10/2018 19:15

I voted leave. However, I think the government have made such a bloody mess of the whole thing from start to finish it makes me embarrassed to be British,

I also think that there should be something done to prevent the absolute shit storm that Theresa May is bringing down on us all. I do not believe this is what anyone on either side expected.

If I had the chance to vote again I would say remain, because I don’t think any politician in this country could organise a piss up in a brewery.

londonrach · 21/10/2018 19:17

Because theres been a peoples vote. How many do youwant best of three, five, ten. Ive changed sides to leaver as well.

ManicUnicorn · 21/10/2018 19:18

You can see the typical hardcore Brexiteers on Twitter, in the main the vast majority are men, there don't seem to be as many women Brexiteers. Most are white, middle aged and upwards, so basically have probaby always had their own way, which is why they are getting so worked up about it. They can stamp their feet all they like IMO, I doubt most of them would be capable of mass rioting or civil unrest if Brexit was cancelled.

There would be civil unrest if food and medicine wasn't freely available though..

Poloshot · 21/10/2018 19:19

@ManicUnicorn is the thing about not having their own way a spoof post or just irony?

Original poster
Bearbehind · 21/10/2018 19:20

Ive changed sides to leaver as well.

Based on what londonarch?

What's convinced you that's now the right choice?

OP posts:
MissSusanSays · 21/10/2018 19:20

ALL votes are ‘People’s Votes’

ALL votes are democratic. As long as all sides stick to the rules and don’t rig (illegally) the election.

So votes where one side cheated are undemocratic. The original vote was tainted. Even in Zimbabwe they at least pretend to rerun the vote when people are caught cheating.

Unescorted · 21/10/2018 19:20

harpingdon pre march the organisers were aiming for 100,000 marchers. So even if you take the lowest estimate of people attending of 670,000 that is still many more than expected. Those people were from across the country not just London.

I was marching for a second vote so that people can make a decision based on the emerging information rather than the lies and misinformation that was in the media prior to the first referendum. If the country after making an informed choice votes to leave then it is not a country I wish to live in and I will leave. I am fortunate and can do this. Others are not.

Santaclarita · 21/10/2018 19:23

It was always obvious it was a bad choice. When has anything Nigel farage thinks is a good idea actually be a good idea? Or Boris for that matter?

I would love another referendum but where does it end? If remain win in a second one, leavers will complain and say that their choice was ignored and that remainers were lied to.

In future, go by this when voting: all politicians are liars, they don't care about their constituencies and if something sounds too good to be true, it will be.

Harpingon · 21/10/2018 19:25

So people are scared of "any kind of expression of option" yet when I ask directly(because I really want to know) what the people's vote actually is your reply is that there is no wording and it is a "principal"? Really?

And the photos of the March in the papers were great and seemed to back up that it wasn't as well attended as predicted. Not just my view...

time4chocolate · 21/10/2018 19:26

The irony would be if a People’s vote came to fruition and only two options were available ‘deal’ or ‘no deal’. It would enable me to vote ‘no deal’ which I now think is the better option. In June 2016 I would have probably gone for a soft Brexit given the choice. How things have changed.

twofingerstoEverything · 21/10/2018 19:26

I think the term 'people's vote' is to make a distinction between citizens voting for the final deal as opposed to only having a vote in parliament.

Figmentofmyimagination · 21/10/2018 19:27

It was an extraordinary march, not least because I didn't see a single uniformed police officer - not one - and no barricades anywhere. The only visible evidence of a police presence was the helicopter overhead. It was 100% peaceful - even when we got to Trafalgar square and were told we couldn't march onto parliament because the crowd was too large. Along the way, there were "rubbish points" where people were carefully stacking their coffee cups or whatever. It was beyond well-ordered!

It struck me, marching along, that even if there is a fresh vote and people decide to remain in the EU, there is simply no basis to fear social tension, risk of violence etc. Why would those people who supported a decision to leave the EU be any less peaceful and respectful than people who would rather remain in the EU? This sort of demonising and fear-mongering makes no sense.

megletthesecond · 21/10/2018 19:28

I'm not afraid of a people's vote.
But I suspect we'd end up with the same wretched outcome.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 21/10/2018 19:30

Are people scared of it? I don’t think they are.

Harpingon · 21/10/2018 19:40

If your argument is that "people didn't know what they were voting for" and yet you cannot tell us what the "people's vote" is surely you cannot miss the total hypocrisy?
Tell us what we would actually be voting for? Or can't you do that?

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 21/10/2018 19:43

If the assumption is the public made the wrong decision once why keep asking them. Asking people about chequers ...how many of us have read it ?

Maidsrus · 21/10/2018 19:44

I went on the march it was awesome

But I can’t beleive the apathy of most of the British public. They just want it to be over, whatever the easiest outcome. Including my friends who look at me askance when I say I went on the march.

No one believes the politicians

Many remainers say they would switch to leave because “it’s more democratic that way”

The only tangible Brexit benefit I’ve heard came from a bloke who works in big construction projects. Sometimes planning permission is turned down because a species of newt rare in Europe, but prolific in UK is found. Better then that we get out of EU???

No one else can tell me any tangible benefits. Just platitudes about sovereignty.

The poorest will suffer the most

We’re fucked. I will always blame my very well off PILs who voted leave. They’re loaded and very privileged. What do they need to change?

But I think as a remainer I would accept it better if we had another vote. Even if it is leave. Then I would think fuck you, you get what you deserve

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 21/10/2018 19:47

I'm a massive Remainder but...the vote was held. The idiots of Britain voted. We don't just repeat the vote until we get the "right" answer.

I also don't think people were seriously misinformed - I think they voted according to their prejudices, which remain. And if another vote was held tomorrow? I think the idiots would vote to leave again.

Maidsrus · 21/10/2018 19:47

Figment it was my first march in protest of anything, so not sure if this was “normal” but there were loads of police liaison officers wearing “bollocks to Brexit” stickers Grin

ginghamstarfish · 21/10/2018 19:48

We already had a vote, it was the referendum. Did people believe what was said any more than they usually believe whatever politicians say to get elected? We all know that most of what they promise will not be delivered, so why should the referendum be any different? I do think though that there should have been more public information and a longer run up to it.

abbsisspartacus · 21/10/2018 19:54

See what I mean people don't listen and just think they want to stop brexit the government will never do that now lose face in front of the EU! NEVER! we need to help the political parties make some kind if decision because they are an absolute shower of shite at this

VladmirsPoutine · 21/10/2018 19:56

The problem with a so called People's Vote is that it brings to the surface a few curious questions.

If people were lied to in the initial referendum and thus did not know what they were voting for how could you arguably measure or declare that they do understand what they are now voting for. I say this as someone who's spent pretty much my working life studying the EU, working within it's institutions and writing about it.

Also, what would be the limits of the vote. What would it essentially constitute. A vote to essentially remain within the EU, a vote on the deal Theresa May negotiates which up till now is still non-existent. Or an entirely different thing altogether?

If remain were to win then would we call it the best out of 3? What would become of the 2016 vote?

If leave won then where does that leave everything else that needs to be resolved in so far as issues such as the Irish border.

I'm not against a People's Vote, in theory, but I fear it would not have legitimate legs to stand on.

BoneyBackJefferson · 21/10/2018 19:58

GhostofFrankGrimes

Just because there is an election doesn't mean that it is democratic.
Less than 25% of those eligible to vote get to say who has the power.

Those in power not only change the boundaries to suit themselves (then vote to stop it happening again) but they can then change the manifestos that got them voted in in the first place.

and lets not forget that if you think that the system is rubbish if you choose to vote you have to vote for something in a positive manner or spoil your paper and get ridiculed.

Those in power won't even put a non of the above box in as people would actually be able to say that they thought that the current parties are shit.

and lets not start on PR voting and why they won't put that in place.

But hey lets stick with the approved bullshit system that we have not because its democracy but because people are too scared of change.

theymademejoin · 21/10/2018 19:58

@time4chocolate - It would enable me to vote ‘no deal’ which I now think is the better option.

Why do you think a no deal would be a better option? No deal means that the UK will effectively renage on the good Friday agreement and may very well result in a return to violence. No deal means crashing out of the trade, aviation, etc deals you are in as a member of the EU and a mad scramble to replace them. Everyone you're negotiating with will know the pressure is on you to sign those deals ASAP so won't be willing to offer good terms (look at what the USA has already offered to replace the open skies deal).

Why would anyone want that? It's really cutting off your nose to spite your face.