‘For the first time in my life I am unlikely to vote’
Dear Editor
Since the referendum in 2016 when the people of the UK were invited, at the behest of the then Tory Government, to decide if they wished to remain in or leave the European Union, as we are all aware, a state of political aggravation and unrelenting chaos has ensued.
With a General Election imminent, the content of the Observer letters page (November 13) is indicative of the political toxicity that prevails.
The referendum in 2016 was a political ploy that destroyed the political career of David Cameron and brought about a Tory leadership contest. It threw up a weak leader in Theresa May who called a General Election which resulted in the Parliamentary farce of the last few years and another General Election. I will be surprised if the forthcoming poll does not result in casualties from all factions.
I reiterate the comments that I have made in this page in the past: a referendum of one vote per eligible person on a single important national issue is the purest form of democracy that any citizen can experience. In the case of the EU referendum, it led to one of the UK’s greatest participatory turnouts ever.
Despite assurances given by the two largest parties at Westminster to uphold the result, we have witnessed chicanery that far outstrips the rotten boroughs and gerrymandering that has in the past created a stink at the so- called Mother of Parliaments.
When we send a constituency representative to Westminster it is barely credible to claim that we are engaging in democracy as the MP’s primary loyalty is to the party that operates nationally and within the process there is scope and opportunity to manipulate the system. As we have witnessed recently, those parties without exception, are intent on subverting the will of the electorate expressed in the referendum.
I’m staggered that people think constituency MPs have the right to cut their constituency free from the referendum result.
I staggered to have to listen to the SNP Leader at Wesminster Ian Blackford, week after week, bang the First Minister’s drum that Scotland voted to remain in the EU. This is political posturing of the worst kind. They know full well that every single vote in that referendum – including their