Brexit. This whole thing - the debate, the
arguments, the endless negotiations.
It all kicked off in 2016 when almost 17
million people voted for the UK to leave
the EU. That was 1 million more than
voted to remain. But now the whole
thing seems so messy and complicated
that some people say the only way to
resolve the situation is to have yet
another vote and ask the public to do it
all over again. But could there really be a
second referendum?
Now yes obviously
some people would support a second
referendum and others are completely
against it. But for now we're just asking
is it even possible - and if so what would it look like?
Well, Theresa May has already said she won't
hold another public vote on Brexit.
But she could be forced to do it if
enough MPs decide to push legislation
through parliament. In other words it's possible
that Theresa May might not have a choice.
But it's still lots of unanswered
questions. First up, what would actually
be on the ballot paper? Back in 2016 all
this seemed so straightforward - a simple
choice between leaving the EU or
remaining in it. But as we've seen over
the last two years, leaving the EU could
happen in lots of very different ways.
In fact we did a whole video looking at
all the variations - with soft Brexit,
hard Brexit and somewhere in between
Brexit. You see at the moment we're not
just part of the EU's political
systems, we're also part of the EU
institutions like the single market, the
customs union and the European Court of
Justice. So when people voted in 2016,
what did they actually want? Did they want us to break
off all connection with everything? Or
should we still be, I don't know, part of the
EU's customs union, or something or, well, anything? Now of course plenty of
politicians claim that they know what the
people really wanted
when they voted the leave the EU. But the reality
is none of these complex questions were
on the 2016 ballot paper, so it's all
just speculation. The only thing we
really know for sure is that most voters
wanted to leave the EU. We don't know how
they wanted to leave. So if there was a second
referendum it probably wouldn't be
exactly the same as the last one. Instead
people might be given more options to choose from.
So what could these options be?
One of them would probably be the draft deal that
Theresa May has agreed with the EU.
Supporters of her plan say she's managed
to find a good, pragmatic compromise. But
her opponents say it's the worst of both
worlds. Whatever you think of it, right
now it's the only deal on the table. So
if there is another referendum this is
very likely to be one of the options.
Another possible option will be to
cancel breaks it altogether and remain
in the EU. Many Brexiteers, though, say
this shouldn't be on the ballot paper.
They say the question of whether the UK
should leave the EU has already been
settled by the last referendum in 2016.
On the flip side people campaigning for
a second referendum say 'hold on, it's now
become a lot clearer what Brexit
would actually involve and people might
have changed their mind.'
And they also say there are big
questions about the leave side's campaign
tactics. So if remainers campaigning for
a second vote get their way, this option
is also likely to be on the ballot. What
about that third choice then? Well some
Brexit supporters say if people don't
like Theresa May's deal they should be
able to vote for the UK to leave you without
any deal at all.
But again lots of people will be against
this idea because they're worried that
leaving with no deal could lead to
economic chaos.
Ultimately the decision on what
questions are on the ballot paper will
be up to MPs and the Electoral
Commission. But at the moment it looks
likely we'd have a choice between all
three of these options. Wait a minute. Two of these
options at different versions of Brexit.
But there's only one remain option. That
would divide up the Brexit supporters
and reduce their votes, which might not
sound very fair. One solution then will
be to give voters more than one choice.
The referendum could use a system called
the alternative vote which it basically
allows you to rank the options in order
of preference. Initially only people's
first preferences are added up. If they
don't reach the 50% mark needed to win
then the second preferences are included
as well. So a three-way vote is possible -
ish. Experts say it would take weeks and
weeks just a plan it all properly. And
that's a problem because time is running
out. We're currently set to leave the EU on the
29th of March 2019, so if Parliament does
decide to call a second referendum it's
actually it's already kind of too late.
To get around this the government would
have to buy extra time and ask the EU to
delay Brexit. And that's only gonna make
Brexit supporters even more angry. And
the problems don't end there. Lots of the
same issues that made people angry last
time around could come back round all
over again. For one thing should young
people be allowed to vote this time? In
most UK elections you've got to be 18 to
vote, but there are calls for it to be
lowered to 16. In fact 16 year-olds were
allowed to vote in another referendum
back in 2014 over Scottish independence.
Now some people say 'of course they
should be allowed to vote
after all if them who live with the
effects of Brexit for the longest.' But
the others say this is just a cynical
attempt to try and swing the vote
because, well, we know that young people
are much more likely to vote remain. So
if they were given a chance to vote in
a second referendum it might just look
like a stitch-up in favour of remainers. Ultimately it's hard to say whether a
second referendum would actually put an end to all this brexit chaos.
It mainly just depends on your viewpoint.
Yes technically it is possible, but it
might actually just make even more
political chaos.
Either way the issue is not going away
anytime soon, so in the meantime please
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