I think it has become clear that David Cameron made a serious mistake in calling for a referendum. It wasn’t necessary. The discussion could and should have been confined to parliament. The use of a referendum to produce a simple majority of the population, implicitly binding the government to comply with the wishes of “the people” expressed by their voting, was a departure from the British democratic principle of representation expressed in the famous speech by the 18th century parliamentarian Edmund Burke in his address to the electors of Bristol in which he famously said:
“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion”
– from which I understand him to imply that parliament has to undertake the work involved, especially if the matter is extremely complicated with a great multiplicity of questions and issues, to come to the best overall solution on behalf of the voters who have delegated their authority to parliament precisely for that purpose.
