The Student Room Group

Should we have a Second Referendum?

The Brexit Referendum of 2016 declared that the British public voted to leave the European Union.
The vote declared that 51.9% of the public wanted to leave and 48.1% wanted to remain.
There are recent murmurings in parliament and in Britain of a potential second referendum.

What is your opinion?
Would it be anti-democratic?
What are the pros and cons of a second referendum?
Should there even be a second referendum?

Scroll to see replies

I don’t support referendums, at least not in our current parliamentary framework as they simply don’t work as it’s lead up the absurd situation of a remainer parliament trying to implement brexit.

A second referendum is a catastrophically stupid idea and a complete waste of time. Militant remainders should just grow a pair and cancel it, which is what one of the few principled ones I have any time for (Ken Clarke- who voted against the referendum) attempted to do.
I'm sitting on the fence. (Voted remain, FTR)

We know so much more now that the results could be very different. But at the same time, if the result changed, militant leavers would hold it over the rest of us for the next 20 years and claim that Britain would have been fixed if we'd just gone through with it. It would probably become a huge political tool again and again.

The first referendum should never have been called, but it's already happened now so I'm just waiting for us to leave.
No
Reply 4
52% isn't enough to leave for 40 years. And if it were the other way round, losing at 48% wouldn't be enough to stay in for another 40 years either. A second referendum doesn't really help with this issue, as it's a problem with the EU itself. We need to be in 'forever' but it would be insane to commit to something so undemocratic and with an agenda so distinct from our own 'forever'.
I support a Best Of Three. Just in case remain wins.

Also the result should be ignored anyway, just like first.
I initially did not think a second referendum was justified.

However after almost three years in which Brexit supporters have consistently demonstrated that they do not have a clue what they want and the current impasse in Parliament, there is a very strong case for one.
Reply 7
Whatever, I just want it to be over and done with. I'm sick to death of hearing about it.

What difference will it make to our lives really? I'll go to work at 9am still and leave at the same time.
Reply 8
Original post by Trotsky's Iceaxe
I initially did not think a second referendum was justified.

However after almost three years in which Brexit supporters have consistently demonstrated that they do not have a clue what they want and the current impasse in Parliament, there is a very strong case for one.


I agree with your first point (though not necessarily your conclusion), but Parliament not doing its job because they (overall) wanted the other outcome is unacceptable.
Original post by ThomH97
I agree with your first point (though not necessarily your conclusion), but Parliament not doing its job because they (overall) wanted the other outcome is unacceptable.


Brexit supporters had the opportunity to elect a party that fully supported Brexit in 2017. However instead of backing UKIP (less than one in 50 people voted for UKIP), they decided to split their vote over two parties that were deeply divided over Brexit. They are getting the very outcome they voted for.
I want a referendum on that,
Original post by Trotsky's Iceaxe
Brexit supporters had the opportunity to elect a party that fully supported Brexit in 2017. However instead of backing UKIP (less than one in 50 people voted for UKIP), they decided to split their vote over two parties that were deeply divided over Brexit. They are getting the very outcome they voted for.


If Brexit were the only thing the government presides over, you'd be correct. As is, we elect our governments to do a multitude of things, so to expect one party with the strongest position on one issue to claim all the voters who, among their multitude of opinions on a multitude of other issues, would at least slightly prefer to leave than remain is unrealistic.
Yessss, lets exit brexit
Original post by LostAccount
I support a Best Of Three. Just in case remain wins.

Also the result should be ignored anyway, just like first.

1.9% isn't enough for a multi-year process, during which many issues have been found that voters simply could not have appreciated. We now have a lot more information about what Brexit could mean, so it is, IMO, entirely appropriate to have a referendum on which of the main options to take, e.g. current deal, no deal, remain. However, I would not have supported having a referendum on this at all - we don't vote on what treatment the NHS should give for cancer, which the average voter probably knows as much about as they do about the EU.
would u like some fries with ur referendum
Well, there is no majority view on what Brexit should look like and we're at an impasse. The MPs are not able to decide for themselves and it would seem they need some guidance from the British public.

This is not the end of Brexit. If No Deal were clearly selected, then all the soft Brexit and Remain lot would be forced to quieten down. If a soft Brexit is selected, then all the No Deal and Remain lot would have to quieten down. And if Remain won, then common sense will have prevailed.
Original post by Aivicore
Britain would have been fixed if we'd just gone through with it.

Young people did not vote for this (of course some did, but the majority did not). This was a vote constructed by, supported by and "implemented" (if we can call whatever the hell y'alls parliament is doing for implementation) by old people in small towns. Therefore, the 18 year olds who are now eligible to vote - all those 16 year olds who couldn't vote in 2016 - would, I think, vote against Brexit. At the same time, the 84-year olds from Barnsley have now gone off and died (RIP), and the ambivalent voters (or those who didn't vote but supported Remain) would look at the political chaos this country is currently facing and opt out. I personally think a second referendum would be a vote for Remain (but I'm obviously biased).
Yes obviously, we haven't found a solution yet and we are supposed to leave in 10 days.

Not anti democratic at all.
I strongly believe in Brexit, the electorate never voted to join a European Union and should not have joined up to it without a referendum all those years ago. We voted to join the Common Market not the European Union. We will save billions a month that can be put back into our own economy, we are not as weak as the European Union makes us out to be, we financially support the EU being one of the top investors. Without us the EU could crumble rapidly that's why they are asking for such a huge amount of money for us to leave, so i believe that even through we are leaving the EU we will never fully leave, its not possible, we are in Europe.

Having a second referendum would highly undemocratic, in our current climate many of the electorate would simply vote to end the whole Brexit debacle and not express their true opinions on the matter. What should have happened is that after the first referendum, the politicians in the House of Commons should have stepped up become 'respectable' adults and followed the wishes of the electorate instead of playing around like children. There are more manners in Primary School class rooms than in The House of Commons, How can we teach our young people to behave respectfully and raise their hand in class if today's politicians cant set the same example.

Yes there are 'murmurings' about a second referendum but this would be highly undemocratic and cause high amounts of voter apathy. Parliament does not have to follow the wishes of the Referendum, they could in fact rule against it. This would cause a massive uproar, so why would a second referendum be any different?
Yea here's the options:

1. Are you sure? We're more intelligent than you. Our views are superior. We're right you're wrong. Accept we know best. Are you really sure you know what you're talking about? We want to remain. Leaving will be terrible. You're too stupid to know what you want. You don't get it. Vote to remain. Let us make the decision for you?

2. I'm a sensible human who knew what I wanted when I voted leave in 2016. I'm intelligent. I've weighed up the options. I'm entitled to my view. I know as much as you do. My views are as valid as yours. I stand by my vote to leave.

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