There is no place in english politics for words like magnanimity,
consensus or cooperation. British Governments take no prisoners….locked as they
are into
an adversarial culture. It’s one of the distinctive - but not
unique – features of the British system. And even the equally adversarial French system was capable this year of opening up a bit with its "grand debat"
But, with parliament deadlocked, some voices are suggesting that any
second referendum should have elements of the “citizen
assembly” system – which (i) randomly selects a group of citizens who are (ii)
able to invite people from respective sides of the argument to give evidence (iii)
which is then explored before (iv) the production of a final report and
recommendations – all under the auspices of an advisory group which manages the
process.
A previous PM Gordon
Brown suggested this in a speech in November - and repeated here
And the Irish
gave an inspiring example of how it works in their recent referendum on
abortion
Of course, this would need an extension (or revocation) of the famous “article
50” to be agreed with the EU – and by longer than 6 months…..And any remain majority would be a small one – and therefore insufficient
to still the loud and insistent voices of leave...
But the argument that Brexiteers have never been able to deal with is that noone knew during the campaign what leave actually meant - hence the sheer insult embodied in the May mantra - "Brexit means Brexit". As the last post said, at least now we have the strong outlines of its implications and it's on that basis that a second referendum could usefully be fought - for all that many people will impugn the motives of an elite which never takes no for an answer......Or indeed warn us of the dangers which the EU now even more clearly poses to the democratic project
But the argument that Brexiteers have never been able to deal with is that noone knew during the campaign what leave actually meant - hence the sheer insult embodied in the May mantra - "Brexit means Brexit". As the last post said, at least now we have the strong outlines of its implications and it's on that basis that a second referendum could usefully be fought - for all that many people will impugn the motives of an elite which never takes no for an answer......Or indeed warn us of the dangers which the EU now even more clearly poses to the democratic project
Coincidentally, I picked up earlier this week in my second-hand bookshop Decisive – how to make
better choices in life and work
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