Referendum and Brexit

In my view the decision that was taken with the Brexit referendum shows that some issues should not be decided by a direct public referendum. Certainly, in some cases, a referendum might be helpful to reflect public opinion on a certain issue, e.g. if a community needs to renew a bridge financed with tax money or if a new transmission mast should be built in the neighborhood. However, these decisions are made on a small democratic scale that directly influence only that specific community. Generally, for decisions at a larger scale, I believe, that in democracies elected parties or representatives, have to take responsibility for their political stands which they have been elected for. Hence, the representatives are in charge to take responsible decisions that might influence domestic and foreign policy.

Certainly, it may be possible to improve the integration of communities and personal opinions into large scale political processes, but people need training to make these participative measures effective. It is essential to have a fundamental basis which supports taking a democratic decision. Evidently, what Brexit has proven is that demographic gaps, between generations, of cultural nature, from north to south, and London to rural Britain, exist in the British society which cannot be fixed just by having a public referendum. In addition, I strongly believe, that it was irresponsible of parliamentarians to let people decide on an issue without being given a clear fundament to base their decisions on.