By: Megan Speakman, Student Voices writer
As
the result of the Thursday’s referendum came in, it seemed that Britain had
chosen to leave the European Union… or did it? Many young voters were left
angry and disappointed, claiming that their future had been stolen by the older
generation. We saw a variety of extreme emotions, almost as if young voters
were struggling with grief. It began with denial and complete shock. Having
reached the second stage, anger, young voters took to social media expressing
their disappointment in Brexit voters and on Friday afternoon came the call for
a second EU referendum.
At first this petition was not being taken
seriously, but as the number grew to more than 3 million, it began to be
discussed by MPs in the media. Now many senior politicians have backed the idea
of a new poll, with Tony Blair stating “why rule it out?” and Nicola Sturgeon
claiming that her MPs may try to block the withdrawal. David Lammy, a labour
MP, also called for a second EU referendum, explaining that the “The
consequences of Brexit are too grave.”
But would a second referendum question the
very idea of democracy? The majority of the country voted to leave, and
although many were left disheartened, if we begin holding secondary votes until
we achieve the “right answer,” surely this undermines our legal system and the
legitimacy of a referendum? All that we
can do is hope that the hot-headed remain voters eventually calm down and reach
the final stage of grief, acceptance. Ultimately, Britain has spoken and we
must acknowledge that sometimes the vote does not go our way, and we must
accept that in order to stabilize our country in these turbulent times.
A second EU referendum… A threat to democracy?
Reviewed by Student Voices
on
11:17
Rating:
A great read - spot on, Megan!
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