"The referendum on a different voting system, other than FPTP, was a nonsense then? BCF? Yes
The referendum to remain or leave the EU was a nonsense then? BCF? " Yes
placemats
imo, those 2 decisions should have been made only by an elected government
It is always a risk with a referendum that it returns a result which Parliament then cannot or will not carry out
Then we get the current crisis, in which Leavers feel cheated
Referendums are banned under the German constitution precisely because of how they can be misused by populist demagogues to subvert democracy
Voters have for years had a choice to vote for a UKIP govt, but until Cameron announced his referendum plans in 2015, the EU was only of importance to about 5% of people as an issue in opinion polls
During the campaign, populists whipped up a frenzy by using pent-up frustration about other issues and highly sophisticated targeted psyops against groups of voters
Nothing has changed since then to make referendums safer
There was also disgraceful manipulation by Cameron on changing the FPTP system, both on the choice of system and during the campaign.
He conned the LDems disgracefully
Also in my post, I said that refs in Scotland / Wales / NI were justified because their Parliaments assemblies could not decide on Independence
I should have added e.g. in the case of NI, on international treatiest too
I don't comment on refs in other countries like Ireland or Switzerland, because their constitutions are set up specifically to incorporate referendums and carry them out properly, but the UK is not
However, even Switzerand has had problems with referendums:
Having to cancel the result of one, due to misleading / lacking information during the campaign
The people voting against FOM had trade consequences which Parliament refused - in which case they should not have given people the choice