Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

eferendum result has wrought, even before negotiations for exit have
begun, MPs and peers must be given the opportunity to vote against any
notice under Article 50, or else vote for a second referendum – perhaps
one that, like most referendums in sensible democracies, is binding only
if carried by a two-thirds majority.
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Some Brexiteers angrily proclaim that the judges decision that Article
50 should be referred to Parliament for ratification, is to defy the will
of the people, in a democracy? Despite the fact that they would be
defying the will of only 37 per cent of the people, it has to be pointed out
that these objectors do not know the true meaning of democracy. Our
forebears have not fought and died for government by opinion poll, but
for a representative democracy. That means, as the great conservative
philosopher Edmund Burke pointed out in his Letter to the Electors of Bristol
(one of the crucial documents in our unwritten constitution), that as their
MP, he had a duty to do everything he could for them, but when it came
to a vote in Parliament his duty as their MP was to vote as his conscience
dictated, for what he believed to be the best interests of the nation.
Stop complaining about the legal challenge to Brexit – it’s democracy
So the simple fact is that, whatever the views of their constituents, our
MPs are fully entitled to reject the bill that the Government will now have
to bring forward to begin the process of departing from Europe. (The
Government may, of course, appeal to the Supreme Court, although it is
unlikely to succeed).
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 17