Quote Originally Posted by Brentwood View Post
There were people like that Professor of EU Law, working for the University of Liverpool who was said to have had a vested interest, because his uni got some EU grant somewhere. Compare his modest University salary to the money he could make advising the UK Govt on how best to establish a post-Brexit UK, and he probably voted against his personal interests. Manufacturers telling us that they wouldn't manufacture in the UK if they had to pay tariffs on incoming materials and be charged tariffs for the suff they produce, only had vested interests, in the sense that it is obviously a high risk to their UK business operations which needed spelling out to people (which was dismissed anyway).

The way we usually make major decisions is in the HoCs after following due process, extensive cross examining, publishing detailed white papers, issuing bills and laws and generally ensuring that we actually know what we are signing up for. We don't ask the public to directly vote about whether we should invade a country, without telling them what the country is, who we're up against , who our allies may be etc. Our elected politicians debate it in parliament, consider all the facts and make the decision on our behalf
A desire to maintain a status quo that happens to suit you rather than risk the unknown is also a vested interest, I'm afraid. And if you take money from the EU, don't expect anyone to take you seriously as an independent voice on matters pertaining to the EU. Wouldn't you question someone who claimed to speak independently about climate change if you found they'd taken money from the oil industry, for instance?

The referendum took place in no small part because our parliamentary system was shown to be unfit for purpose when it came to representing the people's views. Despite a huge groundswell of anti-EU sentiment, MPs were overwhelmingly pro-EU and thus the public were being ignored - making them understandably angry. It wasn't until another party (UKIP) gained traction and potentially threatened Tory majorities that the public's feelings were even acknowledged. In effect, the referendum came about in order to meet a democratic shortfall in our system of government.