Put this nightmare behind us and have a People’s Vote, urges Cocker
YORKSHIRE-BORN MUSICIAN Jarvis Cocker likened the 2016 Brexit referendum result to a single entering the charts at number 19 as he joined calls for a “people’s vote”.
The former Pulp frontman, from Sheffield, joined former Green leader Caroline Lucas and Tory rebel Dominic Grieve at an “emergency convention” on a second EU referendum at the Emmanuel Centre in central London.
Telling the packed audience that the UK pop charts could shed a light on Brexit, he said new and challenging ideas could get to number one if enough people liked them.
But Cocker said that, in the 1990s, singles began being sold at a discounted rate when they were first released, meaning they often rose quickly to number one before later dropping out of the charts.
He added: “That term ‘pop’ has become something like a dirty word, but I’m talking about good pop as in ‘popular’ as opposed to bad pop as in ‘populism’.
“New and challenging ideas could rise to the top if enough people decided to put them there by buying the records. It was proper democracy.”
The musician and presenter said the Brexit win for Leave in the referendum was the equivalent of a single entering the top 40 charts at number 19.
He added: “It’s hardly setting the charts alight, we would not have dared to call it a hit back in the day. We definitely would not have dared to call it the will of the people, so why is the result being presented as one?
“So let’s do it again, let’s have a second referendum and let’s define the margin of victory and put this nightmare behind us and move on to thinking about something more interesting – like dancing – instead.”
Former Attorney General Mr Grieve told the audience that once Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal is defeated in the Commons next week the only option is a second referendum.
He also said that Conservatives had “blown it” by letting a “revolutionary change take place in the name of tradition”.
Ms Lucas said a second referendum could “fire the starting gun” on a new conversation about how the country is governed.
She called for a new social contract, better jobs and green investment to address the “grotesque inequalities” and proposed introducing proportional representation to replace the first-past-the-post voting system.
Meanwhile, Sheffield-born Lord Roy Hattersley, the former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and a Minister in two governments, will appear on stage alongside politicians and campaigners in his home city today to declare his support for a People’s Vote.