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Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 6:40 pm
by polop
mondo wrote:
polop wrote:It's obvious by the carry on in Parliament over the last week, democracy is in short supply. All political parties have there own agenda and it does not include taking any notice of the public.



Maybe MPs are voting for what they consider the best for the country.....?

Maybe the average voter is not au fait with the macro-economic and geopolitical position of the UK on the world stage at the present time. Perhaps the MPs have some deeper understanding..

Perhaps..

....and as Winston Churchill once said...

"The first duty of a member of Parliament is to do what he thinks in his faithful and disinterested judgement is right and necessary for the honour and safety of Great Britain. His second duty is to his constituents, of whom he is the representative but not the delegate"

.


Then no point asking the people, if you know better....

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:24 pm
by Stephanie
Done it

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:29 pm
by Jillandsteve
Surely the petition is inherently undemocratic as can really only be signed by those on Facebook or other media and seeks to overturn a referendum voted for in parliament and offered to all voters in the Uk. I also believe it can only be signed by those with Uk based email addresses and, those without email addresses can’t sign anyway ?
Surely to be viable the number should exceed the 17.4 million who voted leave
Lastly, it’s already been stated by the PM that it will not be acted on anyway regardless to the number
It’s not really the way the a democratically held referendum should be reversed, for that to be done a second referendum needs to be debated and if successful needs to be run properly by the electoral commission
Just my thoughts

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:33 pm
by Babu
Previous Referendum was made on basis of almost an abstract concept of leaving EU . . . . if consensus cant be made on reality of situation why not have a final referendum on what we shall have, hard, soft or no Brexit? . . . . . if the same, It will convince remainers that there is a real majority for leaving, if reversed, Brexiteers will have no argument against staying in as its a referendum and it cant be argued against can it??? :D

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:46 pm
by Jillandsteve
The petition will only be signed by remainers therefore will give a totally biased, unbalanced result
I think it’s impossible to put the question to the public on whether they support, or not, the withdrawal deal
It’s a 500+ page document that probably 0.5% of the population have read and yet are expected to vote on it ??
That never gets a mention by remainer politicians who are convinced that the average Joe public didn’t know what they were voting for but is bright enough to understand the legalities and detail contained within the withdrawal deal
Has anybody here read it or can, in any detail, explain the backstop ??

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:59 pm
by Shiva
Jillandsteve wrote:Surely the petition is inherently undemocratic as can really only be signed by those on Facebook or other media and seeks to overturn a referendum voted for in parliament and offered to all voters in the Uk. I also believe it can only be signed by those with Uk based email addresses and, those without email addresses can’t sign anyway ?
Surely to be viable the number should exceed the 17.4 million who voted leave
Lastly, it’s already been stated by the PM that it will not be acted on anyway regardless to the number
It’s not really the way the a democratically held referendum should be reversed, for that to be done a second referendum needs to be debated and if successful needs to be run properly by the electoral commission
Just my thoughts
A petition is only a petition. It has no legal standing and zilch to do with overturning anything. It is simply a mass expression of opinion. This particular petition has been submitted as a legitimate parliamentary petition, using a system created by the UK parliament precisely for the purpose of allowing expression of opinion. The petition is very simple and makes its purpose clear: to show "the strength of public support now, for remaining in the EU." . That is all. The fact that it attracted over 5.6 million signatures in less than 5 days, with the site continually crashing under the weight of people trying to sign is an indicator of people's despair at the current situation, where indeed it is the only outlet for them to express an opinion. Politicians can ignore it, of course, but as one indicator of public opinion they may be wise to wonder if the "will of the people" is as absolutely fixed and unidirectional as some of them would like to maintain.

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:03 pm
by Shiva
I signed it, by the way, in the spirit of using legitimate outlets to express opinion.

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:09 pm
by Shiva
And it is still open, for any one on here who would like to add their name to it, as free expression of opinion: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:17 pm
by Jillandsteve
As I said, it only reflects the views of remainers and is therefore unbalanced
Its one side of the debate so is meaningless regardless to what remainers will say
Of course the number will be high as there were 16 million who voted remain so in the end what’s new ?

Re: Petition

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:23 pm
by Shiva
Jillandsteve wrote:As I said, it only reflects the views of remainers and is therefore unbalanced
Its one side of the debate so is meaningless regardless to what remainers will say
Of course the number will be high as there were 16 million who voted remain so in the end what’s new ?
And to correct the balance you are of course absolutely free to start a petition stating a different view. That's the beauty of the Parliamentary petition system.