The ouija-board theory of democracy

EVER since the June 2016 referendum vote in Britain on membership of the European Union, there has been a battle over the terms of departure. The government, and right-wing press, are averse to there being any kind of scrutiny over the process by either the courts or Parliament. Judges who ruled that Parliament should approve the triggering of Article 50 (the technical start of negotiations over exit terms) were dubbed “enemies of the people” by the Daily Mail, a term that has since been taken up by Donald Trump.

But the referendum posed a very general question—“Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”—without setting out the manner of departure. Britain could have remained a member of the single market and customs union while being outside the EU (as was suggested by some members of the Leave campaign); the Conservative manifesto of 2015 (to which the government owes its legitimacy) talked about Continue reading