Pudpop wrote:Luzh 22 wrote:Can the UK even be classed as a democracy anymore, when the government (despite overtures to the contrary) denies the will of the people?
"Democracy is a system of government where the citizens exercise power by voting." When that is denied, no matter where you sit on Brexit, we have a major issue.
Will government overtly do just that tomorrow? Or will they carry on the shenanigans and sabotage?
But the citizens did exercise power?
Leave winning in referendum -> government triggers article 50 and makes deal with EU
Parliament voting against the deal is not undemocratic.
MPs vote in accordance with their constituents best interests, not according to a 3 year old referendum. As long as citizens retain the right to vote their MPs out of office, this entire process is democratic.
That is an interesting part of your statement. The problem lies with what that MP deems as his/her constituents best interests, particularly when they don't fall inline with what his/her constituents actually want.
The way I see democracy, true democracy, is an elected representative represents the views, opinions and wishes of his/her constituents in a fora where national decisions are made, without partiality. If the elected representative is unable to do so, for whatever reason, that person should resign from their position.
And here-in lies the problem with Brexit, where a vast majority of the elected representatives do not or cannot believe in such an outcome, despite voting to uphold the outcome of the Brexit vote by a vast majority, yet hold onto their positions to stifle and stimmy any futherance toward that goal, in an underhanded and covert manner.
That isn't true democracy, and other than voting those self same people out of office in the next election (I don't think the British people are bright enough as a whole to see this), there are no checks or balances in place to arrest the problem within the system.
This problem has always existed, but never has anything come close to highlighting the issue as has Brexit. This is huge in respects to the constitution of the UK, and the problem is only getting worse, where ministers sitting in the cabinet are flagrantly abusing holes in the system, by ignoring the whips by abstaining or voting against the very government they are representing, yet claiming to support the government to the press.
This has never happened before, unless the minister resigns immediately or is sacked from his/her position by the party leader.
Why? Because it is supposed to ensure the smooth running of government in matters of national import. Yet those ministers are refusing to budge, and the party leader (in this case Theresa May) is refusing to sack them. It's a covert way of sabotaging the will of the British people, and therefore, in my opinion, cannot be deemed democratic.
