'I regret the way I voted' continued

[Vik1234]

To Cappuccino - you mustn't make yourself feel personally responsible for this! A lot of people are no doubt regretting their decision and feeling betrayed by the empty promises made by the Brexit camp. For what it's worth, please sign the following petition and tell everyone around you to do the same... petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215/. They say it can't have any effect, but it's not as if a referendum is legally binding (it's not article 50!)... If enough people can sign the petition... It's a crazy notion, but this is a crazy time!

France had a referendum and voted to leave the EU in 2005. The French parliament did not action it.

Cheesy the French referendum in 2005 wasn't on leaving the EU, it was on a European Constitution.

The exact word on the ballot paper was:
"Approuvez-vous le projet de loi qui autorise la ratification du traité établissant une Constitution pour l'Europe ?"
Translation: Do you approve the bill authorising the ratification of the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe?

The French referendum was one of 9 scheduled, only 3 of which took place.

The Constitution was eventually abandoned and the Treaty of Lisbon replaced it.

PattyPenguin Thank you for explaining that. My French friends just said to me that "Sarkozy simply didn't implement the 2005 referendum result" and so I wanted to know more about it. When I googled it I couldn't find anything easily... I now realize I was googling the wrong words (referendum quitter l'Europe, sortir de l'Union, and so on!!) So I know more now, but haven't contributed much to the thread

Early on in this thread someone said they didn't vote because they were in hospital. You can vote if you're in hospital - you can apply for an Emergency Proxy Vote right up until 5pm on the Polling Day: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-by-proxy. Although I appreciate that if you're really ill it might be the last thing on your mind.

Someone was bemoaning the fact that not enough young people bothered to vote. There were actually 16 and 17 year olds out there who wanted to vote but weren't allowed. Their vote could have made all the difference as the younger you are the more likely you voted Remain. In Scotland 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote in the Scottish Referendum. Of course David Cameron was never going to allow that in the EU Referendum - it would have set a precedent for allowing 16 and 17 year olds the vote in general and young people don't tend to vote Tory.