There are reliable accounts that a democratic Brexit referendum this year would show a 60% vote to remain in the EU. What should we do now?
A year ago 17.4 million people voted to leave, 52%. It was called “the will of the people”. If over 18 million now want to remain, we need to communicate our honest change of position.
The 18 million should all write a letter to the EU with one sentence: “we the people wish to remain in the EU and we hereby rescind Article 50 of the Treaty.”
With modern technology an online petition seems a natural choice, but we need some caveats.
For online security it needs to be organised by an organisation with ultra-strong security processes and audit credibility, a retail bank such as the Co-op.
For resources it needs fair-minded non-party backers, such as the Sainsbury and Rowntree trustees.
For avoiding fraud it needs people to give their full names, unique national insurance numbers and an anti-robot element.
For people who don’t use online processes an equivalent postal coupon (cheque size) printed in newspapers and leaflets would be machine counted.
For fairness it would be monitored by the Electoral Reform Society and overseen by a non-political board of national leaders from all faiths and none.
Hostile organisations at home and abroad would try to troll and hack it, so any extra behind-the-scenes support from the Bank of England and the security services would be welcomed, even if never revealed in detail. Closing date, Christmas Day.
When we are living in a failed state, sometimes we the people have to take matters into our own hands.