[lolcat5e]

A second referendum would not solve anything. The original referendum should not have been called by PM Cameron. The core issue is one of national English identity. Scotland has its own Scottish nationalist party. Wales has its own nationalist party. Northern Ireland has two nationalist parties for good measure. But English nationalists have had to take cover in the 'broad church' of the Conservative and Unionist Party, to give it its full title. The trouble is that the English nationalists have always chafed under what they see as the heavy yoke of EU regulations. The 'one nation Tories' / Unionists consider keeping the UK together as an important ideal. The two factions have been fighting within the party for decades. It has now come to a head. PM Johnson is going for a break with the EU 'do or die'. Scotland and NI did not have a majority for leaving however. It's a mess. It should not have happened. The UK is not Switzerland, it is a representative democracy, where Parliament is sovereign. As an unintended consequence the UK could break up in the coming years.

[belltaco]

Any referendum that changes status quo in such a significant manner should need 2/3rds majority or atleast 60%.

[inflatableDodo]

Europe has long been the Conservative Party's kryptonite. I am almost surprised it took this long for the referendum to break them up, but you now have Ken Clarke kicked out of the Conservative party, along with people like Nicolas Soames, Churchill's grandson.

Ken Clarke has also been making statements that he would be willing to back Corbyn in a unity government.

We are in very strange political waters right now. But one thing that seems clear is that the Conservative and Unionist Party seems to be in rather deep existential trouble.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-soames/churchil...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/09/03/rebel-leader...

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/ken-clarke-says-h...

[tomohawk]

The original referendum in the 70s passed with 2/3rds vote, but they did not vote on what is today the modern EU. That occurred via feature creep. Your national identity and sovereignty should not be done in by feature creep.

The fact that the last referendum was so close should put increasing EU engagement at full stop to the feature creep. A big change should require a super majority vote to proceed, not a series of creeping measures over time.