What does Democracy Mean - Brexit - The People's Vote

The word democracy describes a political system. "In a democratic country, all eligible citizens have the right to participate, either directly or indirectly, in making the decisions that affect them."

So Cameron said 'let the people vote in a referendum'

The people voted and which ever way you look at it it was close with leave just winning.

						Leave the EU                                         17,410,742 Remain a member of the EU                 16,141,241

Was this a democratic vote - Sort of - if the campaign to leave or remain had been fact checked, based on sound knowledge and correctly policed then yes it would have been democratic - but it wasn't. 

One of the major criticisms of the Brexit campaign was the number of misleading or false claims.
Both sides were accused of running deeply flawed campaigns with spurious reports such as money flooding back to the NHS in the event of Brexit.

1. 'The money saved from leaving the EU will result in the NHS getting £350m a week'
2. 'A free-trade deal with the EU will be 'the easiest thing in human history'
3. ‘Two thirds of British jobs in manufacturing are dependent on demand from Europe’
4. 'Turkey is going to join the EU and millions of people will flock to the UK'
5. 'Brexit will lead to Scotland renewing calls for independence'
6. 'Brexit does not mean the UK will leave the single market '

Which way to go?

Vote Leave broke electoral law and British democracy is shaken. Vote Leave has been fined £61,000 after being found guilty of breaking electoral law during the Brexit campaign....

Large business funded the campaigns on a basis of what they would benefit from - that is un democratic.

Members from different political parties joined together to create a 'dream list' of how the UK would be out of the EU - financially, ethically, and morally and people bought into the dream. 

Remainers could only fight for what there was/is  - difficult when the people are feeling disengaged especially after years of austerity and terrorism.

So what is Brexit? That really is the million dollar question.  Brexit is different things to different people. 

Its: 

• 'going back to how things were before'
• 'less migration'
• 'being great again'
• 'more control'
• 'Free trade' 
• 'more money for the NHS' 
• 'prosperity'

The problem is these are mostly immeasurable things - if everyone wants something different from Brexit can it really deliver. Will the leavers ever be happy with Brexit?

If you look at two years of Brexit, time wasted on elections solely to gain more control (less democracy), poor negotiations, a 'deal' that quite frankly a child could have written in less time and that pleases no-one, its difficult to see how anyone will or can ever be satisfied that 'Brexit has been delivered' 

In my opinion - it is democratic to have a second clear well articulated referendum, with a proper fact based campaign (or no campaign)  - a democratic vote - and yes I believe the option to revoke Article 50 should be included within that vote.

More information: 

wiki/Campaigning_in_the_2016_ 

www.independent.co.uk