Samizdata

In the run-up to the EU referendum there was a widespread conspiracy theory that

the establishment is not above fixing the vote to thwart the democratic will of the electorate.

The run up to the referendum has seen the rise of the hashtag #usepens which urges people to reject the traditional pencils supplied at polling stations and instead use a pen to mark their cross on the voting paper. The thinking behind this is that it will then be impossible for some unknown hand to use an eraser to rub out your cross and make another mark in the other box.

Pathetic delusions. The elite have much more sophisticated methods than that:

Boss of property website Zoopla revealed to be behind Brexit legal action bid.

I suppose that one should not be surprised that people who saw nothing wrong with the EU’s favourite strategies of ignoring inconvenient popular votes or having referenda repeated until the (almost invariably less well-funded) opposition is worn down see nothing wrong with these views:

• We need a second referendum. The consequences of Brexit are too grave – David Lammy MP
• How to stop Brexit: get your MP to vote it down – Geoffrey Robertson QC
• Forget the politics – Brexit may be unlawful – Philip Allott, Professor Emeritus of International Public Law at Cambridge University
• A second EU referendum could pull us out of the fire. Let’s make it happen – Geraint Davies MP
• Letter to all 650 MPs urging Parliament not to support a motion to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – Professor A C Grayling, New College of the Humanities
• How can a close referendum result be sacrosanct when the electorate were deliberately misled on the consequences? – Peter Sutherland, UN Special Representative for International Migration and former EU Commissioner.

This leaflet, Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK, was sent by the Government to every household in the UK some weeks before the referendum. On page 14 it says,

This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide.

An oft-repeated argument of those who seek to use a procedural trick to overturn the result is that the Leave campaign won as a result of ignorant tabloid-readers believing lies. If it turns out that the biggest lie of all was that the votes of the common folk would count equal to the votes of the quality, expect trouble.

It is not over, but things are looking good for Leave.

Update: Some internet sites where you can watch what is turning out to be a political earthquake:

The Guardian‘s live blog. Hats off to them, this is the obvious first place to go.

EU referendum rolling forecasts by Chris Hanretty, Reader in Politics University of East Anglia

Political Betting.com. Sample headline “The results so far have developed not necessarily to Remain’s advantage”. A student of history, then.

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First thoughts:

– THE UNITED KINGDOM WILL LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION.

– The working class did it. The issue was immigration. It wouldn’t have been my choice for main issue, but I am not ashamed to have been in a broad alliance. I’ll gladly bear the next election being won by a party I don’t like in exchange for elections mattering again.

– Talking of which, who will win the next election? Which parties will fight it? When will it be? No idea.

– Shy Leavers. And I hesitate to say this, but the atmosphere of blame following the murder of Jo Cox will have been perceived by many as moral blackmail.

– The EU is holed beneath the waterline. People worldwide have seen that impossible things can happen.

– President Trump? His visit to these shores is spookily well timed.

– Prime Minister Cameron? – 2010-2016

– Don’t assume that the SNP actually wants another Scottish independence referendum. Right now a second indyref would have the same result as the first.