House of Lords Committee on Brexit

All this week the House of Lords, in the UK, are having committee meetings about the implications of the vote to leave the EU.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldeucom/81/8108.htm

They are coming out with some disturbing findings about the legal, constitutional, economic and financial, social and administration implications.

It is a pity that this analysis was not made before the vote.

It is also a pity that there was not a Royal Commission instigated before the referendum. An authoritative Royal Commission would have established the facts and made a cost benefit analysis. Many of the project fear claims and exaggerations made by both sides of the argument would then have been debunked. The population would then have been given a clear basis of facts upon which to base their opinion.

The findings of the House of Lords indicate that we are heading for trouble. I wonder how many in the government, and in the opposition, are secretly hoping that the supreme court will find that it is legally unconstitutional for Northern Ireland or Scotland or both countries to be taken out of the EU without the consent of their respective parliaments. If the supreme court does make this ruling then there may the sound of champagne corks popping in some government circles. It would be the perfect excuse to forget about the whole matter and blame someone else for the debacle.

Full consideration should have been made for the event of Northern Ireland voting to remain. The Northern Irish were largely ignored by the UK government, the press and the leave and remain campaigns. The people of Northern Ireland deserved better consideration.

In Australia a referendum cannot be passed unless a majority of states give voter consent. That means that a referendum to change the constitution requires at least the consent of 4 of the 6 states. Most referendums to change the constitution therefore fail. Australia has ways of preventing the "tyranny of the majority", as John Major describes it. Referendums in Australia are therefore not divisive in character.

Voting is compulsory in Australia so a referendum result can be confirmed by a simple majority. Perhaps we should do something similar in Britain.