Quote of the day 22nd October 2017

"I don't ever want to see another referendum in my lifetime."

(Kenneth Clarke, former Chancellor, in a speech which you can read about here, also suggested that there is "little doubt" that Britain will leave the EU and any second referendum on the terms of exit would be "folly." He added

"The political class as a whole, leaving aside eccentrics like me" ... "they've all decided that this referendum" ... "is the voice of the people."

"They did all say during the referendum that they were going to be bound by it so they do regard themselves as bound by it.")

Comments

Jim said…
i want to see at least one a year. its the way forward
2:29 pm
Jim said…
Demand 5.

No tax, charge or levy shall be imposed, nor any public spending authorised, nor any sum borrowed by any national or local government except with the express approval the majority of the people, renewed annually on presentation of a budget which shall first have been approved by their respective legislatures
2:33 pm
Anonymous said…
The technology is available today have a true Democracy - let the people decide.
7:21 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
For the avoidance of doubt, the quote is Ken Clarke's opinion, not mine, and he described himself in the same article as taking an "eccentric" view which is not that of the political mainstream.

I don't however like the idea of referenda for the sake of referenda.

They should be used where on an important issue

1) there is a clear and straightforward binary choice, and
2) there is reason to think that a referendum will better reflect the wishes of the people than the normal parliamentary process (for example, where parliament is an interested party)



8:30 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
I do think there are cases where a referendum is the right way to move forward on an issue, and do not agree with Ken Clarke on this.

However, I think it is worth taking a pause to reflect on how referenda can be run more effectively and fairly as a genuine test of public opinion before the next time we hold one.
2:33 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the...
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more