RE:xit?
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We have already had a second referendum - I want to know why the democratic decision of the people who voted in the first was not respected[^].
========================================================= I'm an optoholic - my glass is always half full of vodka. =========================================================
The result of the 1975 referendum was respected; the vote was to remain, which required no action to be taken; that non-action was carried out immediately. The 2016 referendum requires action to change the status; once that status has been changed, there's nothing to stop a further referendum (which would then be concerned with re-joining the EU). In any case, currently you might as well call for a referendum on whether the sun should rise tomorrow. As was well debated 15 months ago, there is no mechanism in the EU constitution to "undo" the invocation of Article 50. It is not now possible to stop the UK leaving the EU; an inexorable process has been triggered. Once left, (March 2019 by default, possibly earlier) the UK could in theory apply to re-join the EU. Of course any such application would require the unanimous agreement of the other member states, and they'd likely have requirements that would be unacceptable to the UK (such as joining the Euro, or paying a supplement instead of a rebate). I just wish that instead of talking about "crashing out" of the EU, the media would simply refer to "leaving" the EU, which is what was promised prior to the referendum (if the vote was for "leave") and is what, I suspect, the majority of leave voters expected and wanted.