RE: SMOKESCREEN16 Dec 2018 14:39
"Brexit always meant anything you wanted".
It's interesting that you say that. David Cameron created that reality, or failsafe plan to prevent Brexit if you like.
In 2015, whilst David Cameron was in power, the EU Referendum Act 2015("Act") was enacted. The legislation cleary states the options that should be present on the ballot papers...
"Remain in the EU", or "Leave the EU".
We all know what 'Remain' means, but as for what 'Leave', means, strangely, the entire Act doesn't mention anything about what leave actually is!
I don't believe politicians ever wanted out, the least they appear to want to accept is a 'Deal'.
A 'Deal' scenario lands us a €39b Bill, stripping of our voting and vetoing powers, but forces our legislative powers into the hands of Europe....So bad is a 'Deal' scenario, that it actually makes 'Remain' a much more attractive option.
Many have shouted that anything but hard Brexit was undermining the democratic vote, on the basis that sovereignty was what Brexit was truly about....but that's not what the Act defines 'Leave' as....intentionally some might say.
Furthermore, if our elected officials chose to ignore the the democracy in this instance, that wouldn't be considered as undemocratic.
The Act strangely doesn't include any legal threshold to be achieved to win a vote, which makes the vote an opinion, rather than a vote to make change...this means that politicians have no obligation to enforce the Brexit outcome to its truest meaning.
When legislation is undefined on such a scale as the EU Referendum Act is, you can be certain that politicians are doing everything they can to avoid a hard Brexit....hmmmm!