Brexiters are outnumbered
Our political leaders in the UK often point to the 17.4 million people who voted for Leave on a single summer’s day – 23 June 2016 – as the enduring mandate for Brexit.
But is that still a valid justification?
The reality is quite different. Over the years, the number of people who actively support Brexit has dwindled significantly.
Nearly a decade after the referendum, support for staying out of the EU has stagnated, while the desire to rejoin has grown steadily.
In fact, polling data from multiple credible sources shows that those wanting to rejoin the EU now form a clear and sustained majority – a majority far greater than the slim margin by which Leave prevailed in 2016.
This raises an important question: why haven’t successive Conservative governments – or the current Labour government – given us, the people, a new democratic opportunity to revisit Brexit?
Isn’t democracy meant to allow for the evolution of public opinion and offer voters the chance to change their minds?
Brexiters argue that we must wait 40 years before holding another referendum, yet history suggests otherwise.
After the decisive Remain result in the 1975 referendum, the UK revisited its membership in the European Community just eight years later. By that measure, we are already overdue for a fresh vote on Brexit.
So, what’s holding back our post-referendum governments?
Why has there been such resistance to offering a new democratic choice on a matter that so profoundly shapes the future of the UK?
Let’s open the conversation. Watch and share my new video linked below.
- Although Keir Starmer stood in the Labour leadership contest in 2020 on a pro-EU ticket, he changed his mind when he became leader.
