Brexit: Should we Revote?
On the 23rd of June 2016 the UK had a referendum to choose whether we were to stay in the European Union or to leave and become independent. Much to the country’s surprise, we voted to leave with a shocking 17,410,742 voting out and 16,141,241 people voting to stay. Despite this, now many people are beginning to regret their previous choice.
Not too soon after gathering the results, David Cameron decided to resign, despite the fact that it was him who had decided to hold the election during his campaign for Prime Minister and a new MP had to be elected from the Tories. This caused a bit of trouble for the government, as the public had voted for David Cameron to be their leader, not Theresa May. Furthermore, Brexit has and will continue to affect our trading with other countries in the European Union. It has also negatively affected the pound as already, it has lost about 20% of its value.
Although these negative effects have all affected people’s views on whether Brexit was the right decision, one of the biggest disappointments of Brexit were the promises. Recent studies and surveys show that the majority of people who voted out were poorer, less educated and elderly, meaning they were more likely to believe the promises of Brexit. A popular reason for voting out was for a want to reduce the amount of immigrants that come into the country (who many believe are taking jobs and government housing). They were also told that taxes would decrease and the UK’s wealth would increase as there was no need to pay the expensive EU taxes. However they did not realise that the EU offers jobs, free trading and alliances to the UK.
Despite the fact that it is clear to see that the better half of the public believe we should have a second chance at the referendum, would it be fair as not everyone regrets their decisions? As well as this, some citizens believe that people will learn from Brexit and so research before they vote in the future. Others have said that as the majority of the voters for Brexit were elderly citizens, that it is not fair for them to have such a big say in something that affected the future of younger people drastically, especially considering 75% of young adults voted to remain. The final and strongest reason why there should be a second referendum is that the public were misinformed. We were told of the advantages of leaving the EU (cheaper housing, for example) but they have not reduced, and neither have taxes - one of the main reasons why people voted to leave.
What do you think, was it better to stay or to leave?