Second Brexit Referendum

Brexit is the name given to the UK decision to leave the European Union. The EU is is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km² and an estimated population of about 513 million. 28 is soon to become 27 as the United Kingdom is set to leave the EU on the 29th March. The Brexit vote was a campaign promise by David Cameron in his 2015 general election in order to make sure UKIP who are a far-right political party didn't take their voters and cause a Labour government. The UK uses a first by the post voting system where you vote for one MP in your area and the first to 326 wins. If unable to get to that number, a hung parliament is caused, which has happened twice in the history of the UK. In the summer of 2016, the historic Brexit vote took place and leave won. However, it has emerged that vote leave broke electoral regulations during the campaign and have been fined £100,000, the most famous example was the bus which lied about the amount of money the UK sent to the EU.

The Brexit Bus

David Cameron resigned the day of the results, many leave campaigners actually backed down on what they said, and none wanted the Prime Minster's job. Here comes Theresa May. She wanted to remain, but was not as vocal as some, so she was drafted in and promised to get the best Brexit deal for Britain. Two and a half years later and we are less than a month away from the date and May's deal will probably get rejected by the MPs on March 12th. She has ruled out a second vote on Brexit, but she did know Brexit was more likely than a no-deal Brexit (probably to get MPs to vote her bad deal). Let's have a look at the for and against arguments for a second Brexit vote.

For a Second Brexit Referendum

The situation has changed since the first referendum and we've seen what could happen if we have a no-deal Brexit. The world has changed and the people should be given another chance to vote their opinion. The first vote was only an opinion vote and all parties agreed that the vote would not be legally binding. The second vote could be a serious, legally binding vote on whether we should leave the EU. The vote could also show what the people think of what's on the table. No-deal, May's deal, no Brexit, and a soft Brexit. This would help the members of Parliament get a grasp of what the people in their constituency want. This will give the public the chance to vote for Brexit, but to not leave the single market. It will show what kind of Brexit people who want it would like.

Against a Second Brexit Referendum

The second referendum could create the possibility for more votes. If the results of the second vote are different than the results of the first vote, the people who voted to leave in both votes will feel that the UK should have a third vote. If the government follows the will of the people from the second vote, but not the first, then there could be the potential for civil unrest. Also, a referendum would take 12 weeks by law to arrange and test the questions. The first vote took six months to plan. We do not have enough time and if we extend it by another six months to get another vote, we would need to vote for members for the European parliament, and when we get to six months down the line, we could still vote for leave.

Brexit will happen whether it's with a deal or May's deal. A vote wouldn't fix anything. A general election might work, but with the EU not willing to negotiate on anything other than May's deal. The reason Brexit has gone wrong is because of May's unwillingness to listen to any members of the opposition and not fixing the problem of the Irish backstop, which could mean a hard-border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which could cause bigger issues than that of the issues in the 20th century.

A second referendum would not fix anything. If we vote to leave again then the only thing we could change is if the option that comes out on top is leave, but stay in the single market. If we vote to remain and cancel Brexit, the people who wanted to leave will feel ignored, however, the 48 percent of the country who voted to remain the the first election have been ignored, as their issues with Brexit have not been listened to and their voices have been ignored.