Nigel Farage’s words could come back to bite him in the arse.
Back in May 2016, Farage said he would back a second referendum if the margin of victory for the winning side was small.
Farage told the Mirror: “In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. If the remain campaign win two-thirds to one-third that ends it.”
You’d assume that when Farage said this back in May, he was referring to the possibility of the Remain camp winning by 52-48, arguing that if the Remain camp won by a narrow victory, he’d demand a second referendum.
But the Brexit side won by a margin of 52-48… so will the UKIP leader be calling for a second referendum? Probably not, but surely his statement that a close result means “unfinished business by a long way” should be the same for both results?
A petition seemingly calling for a second referendum, which was actually started before the referendum, has been gaining momentum over the past two days.
But it will take more than a few million sigantures for a second referendum, especially considering the wording of the referendum doesn’t actually make any sense.
https://twitter.com/malcolmcoles/status/746740271552016384
https://twitter.com/TheBrettLeppard/status/746743475333398528
The most likely route a second referendum is if the public successfully demands a General Election to be called when there is a new leader of the Conservatives, and the public votes for a party which is in direct and open support of remaining in the EU. This would essentially have to be Labour, which is currently led by a Eurosceptic.
So even this is unlikely.
The other option would be if a significant political shift provided a legitimate call for a new referendum, one such example could be one of the leading Leave campaigners publicly saying they actually want to Remain.
Boris Johnson, ladies and gentlemen…
“In voting to leave the EU it’s vital to stress that there’s no need for haste…”
Some people believe Boris didn’t think the Leave camp would win, but that a narrow victory for Remain would allow the UK to renegotiate the nature of its relationship with the EU and even push for reforms.
If true, it could be an interesting few months.
Another option is for Parliament to just ignore the referendum result…
Wake up. We do not have to do this. We can stop this madness through a vote in Parliament. My statement below pic.twitter.com/V8f9Yo1TZd
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 25, 2016
