Anyone know what time we're supposed to trigger Article 50 tomorrow?

[Sir C]

I had two thoughts yesterday, one of which is not original but strikes me as sensible, that there should be a threshold for a referendum victory of something that means a 52-48 result does not automatically mean victory for the 52.

The other more original idea is that one solution to all this bickering would be to hold a second referendum on the final Brexit deal with the EU, but only among those who voted Out. Would that not be quite a neat idea?

Yes, I suppose for such a major constitutional issue a threshold margin for victory might be considered sensibel; however, as one wasn't imposed, the point is moot.

To my mind the original referendum was a single, simple question, do you want to stay in, or get out. The 'electorate' voted out. It's now up to our elected politicians to decide how, and under what terms that happens. We can't keep asking hoi polloi to decide on these issues, mainly because most of them are as thick as mince.

[Burney]

Yes, I suppose for such a major constitutional issue a threshold margin for victory might be considered sensibel; however, as one wasn't imposed, the point is moot.

To my mind the original referendum was a single, simple question, do you want to stay in, or get out. The 'electorate' voted out. It's now up to our elected politicians to decide how, and under what terms that happens. We can't keep asking hoi polloi to decide on these issues, mainly because most of them are as thick as mince.

I think your second point is a good one and too often overlooked. This was at heart actually a very simple issue: do we wish to be governed within the framework of the EU or not? The fact that its ramifications are complex does not alter the essential simplicity of the core issue. To say people didn't know what they were voting for is absurd - they absolutely did. That one may or may not like the various reasons they voted Leave is neither here nor there.

[Sir C]

I think your second point is a good one and too often overlooked. This was at heart actually a very simple issue: do we wish to be governed within the framework of the EU or not? The fact that its ramifications are complex does not alter the essential simplicity of the core issue. To say people didn't know what they were voting for is absurd - they absolutely did. That one may or may not like the various reasons they voted Leave is neither here nor there.

Hence my reluctance to vote at the time; I was very much in favour, in theory, of exiting the EU, but concerned about the unexplained, unknown and highly complex ramifications of such a move.

[Burney]

Hence my reluctance to vote at the time; I was very much in favour, in theory, of exiting the EU, but concerned about the unexplained, unknown and highly complex ramifications of such a move.

I knew that leaving the EU meant ensuring that the laws passed over me and those that pass them would once again be subject to democratic and electoral scrutiny rather than being imposed by diktat by an unelected foreign bureaucracy. I thought - and still think -that principle important enough to be worth protecting regardless of other ramifications.