I don’t know what “referendum” means when the votes get counted; either in the general definition, which doesn’t interest me so much here, or in the Brexit events.
What I “know:” Wales and England as a whole, except for London, predominantly, were “leave.” Scotland and N. Ireland were a “stay.” People talk this way in any number of discussions on UK politics.
Query:
are these results statements of the preponderance of individuals and where they live–a map of individual voters spread over the geographical and political borders of the U.K. (my naive understanding of a “referendum”), or
results/statements of the bodies politic of these semi-states (whose representation I, for one, an American, find so difficult to comprehend), that is, in the broadest sense akin to an electoral college: the number of individuals voting in the (“individualistic”) referendum passed some majority percentage, or something, and that number for Scotland voters, say, ultimately resulted in the polity of Scotland entirely as an identity “voting for” stay? That is, a vote of “1” in the stay column, out of a total of (lemme see…) 4?
It looks like every region of Scotland voted “Remain,” and most of Northern Ireland. Although a majority of England and Wales voted “Leave,” some regions voted to stay (notably most of London).
Not sure of the distinction you’re trying to make. The results were counted in 380-odd different electoral areas, and then added together to produce the overall result. By definition, therefore, it’s possible to add up the totals for the electoral areas in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (or any other way of combining them that you choose).
Seems to me the question is whether this was a popular vote, where each person is equal, or is it county by county, where each county (or other division) gets one vote in the total.
I always assumed popular vote, since the results were given in percentages, and not “# counties for/against.”
Yes–the question apparently is clear to all (yay Leo) and has been answered as to its immediate definition. For which I thank the posters.
The larger issue for it is not addressed in OP, nor should it be really, and it is apparent to everyone who knows the correct or incorrect answer: how the will of the people is to be addressed in the next will-of-the-people exercise, which, if it or a successor one transpires, be addressed and manipulated on a larger and more simple state (or state-like) polity: that of Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland and England as political entities within the one currently known as the United Kingdom.
Well, hell, then, despite what OP blathered: what is a referendum, legally?
On one view, in the UK a referendum is basically a very large opinion poll, and you can make of the results what you will.
Referendums happen in the UK when Parliament passes a law saying “let a referendum on question X be conducted”. There are no issues on which Parliament has to consult the people through a referendum; the decision to do so is a political choice.
The law for the conduct of the referendum will say what the legal effect of the referendum result will be, but typically it has no legal effect at all; it simply reveals what the majority preference is. It changes nothing. In the most recent referendum, a majority voted for the UK to leave the EU, but the day after the result was declared the UK was still a member of the EU, and it will remain a member unless and until the necessary executive and legislative measures are taken to effect withdrawal.
In legal theory, Parliament could simply ignore the results of the referendum. Practically, that’s unlikely, and politically it’s unthinkable. At the last election, the Tories campaigned on a platform not only of holding a referendum but of “respecting” the result, and they won the election on that platform, which means there’s a political commitment to follow through and actually take the UK out of the EU. But, in theory, if the present government dillied and dallied on this for long enough, at a future election some party might campaign on a platform of staying in the EU after all (or of holding a referendum asking if people wanted to stay in the EU after all) and might secure a new mandate for not leaving.
