4 ms·

The poll was legally binding, they had to leave. Not that politics isn't broken ofc. EDIT I was wrong

• eyko 10y ago
  The referendum was not legally binding.
  • djmobley 10y ago
    It would have been untenable, however, for a government to defy the will of the people as expressed in the referendum.
    • afandian 10y ago
      I have no desire to re-hash this particular argument, but the margin, 48/52 was very small. Very close to 50/50. And the turnout wasn't perfect. I've heard that only something like 30% of the eligible voters voted to leave. There was no "will of the people". The people were undecided.
      • millak 10y ago
        Indeed, it's frustrating to see it constantly said that the "decisive will of the British people" has spoken!
      • another-dave 10y ago
        And then there's the fact that Britons settled in Europe didn't have a vote. Whatever you can say about voting rights for overseas citizens in general elections, this vote was explicitly removing rights that they are currently exercising as part of EU membership — arguably they are the most affected by the outcome, yet were disenfranchised.
    • random_comment 10y ago
      > It would have been untenable, however, for a government to defy the will of the people as expressed in the referendum. I may have missed something but at no point was anything resembling the current 'plan' ever put forward to be considered as 'the will of the people'.