Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
If we go on the basis of "forget the question on the ballot paper" we're getting into territory where, rather than announcing his intention to resign as PM on the morning the referendum result was announced, David Cameron could have said we are going to stay in the EU anyway.
The only thing that can be deduced from the referendum result is that on a particular day last June, out of those that gave their opinion, more people wanted us to leave the EU than stay in it. Now, I happen to think that there will be days (there probably have been since June 23 as well) when, if such a vote had been taken, more people would have wanted to remain than leave. Similarly, I believe that one of the main reasons as to why the vote went the way it did is that a significant minority of those who voted leave do not like people from another country, but that's by the by - on the day that counted, leave won by not a huge margin, but one that was big enough to not leave any doubt as to who the winner was.
Therefore, leaping to all sorts of conclusions as to what the result means as far as what those charged with negotiating our way out of the EU should agree to is both pointless and mendacious - there was no mandate given for a hard or soft Brexit (in fact, I'm not sure these terms were even in use at the time of the vote), the vote was that we leave and the terms under which we do so can only be judged when we are told exactly what they are.
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