On Brexit.

In February 2016, the then UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the UK Government would formally recommend to the British people that the UK should remain a member of a reformed European Union and that a referendum, that would be advisory on Parliament, would be held to guage support or opposition to the recommendation.

Cameron's party had been losing support to the right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), lead by one Nigel Farage. Cameron thought he could stem the haemorrhaging of Conservative support, even though he was a "Remainer", by throwing his right-wing the bone of a referendum, which he thought would go "remain's" way. He thus gambled the unity of the European Union and that of the United Kingdom for the sake of his party and his personal political career.

As it happened, his gamble didn't pay off. He lost, and resigned, running away from the mess which is his responsibility.

On June 23, 2016, the referendum was held in the UK. The question was deceptively simple.

"Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"

It presented a binary choice,

Remain a member of the European Union
or
Leave the European Union

There were two campaign groups which came to be known as "Remainers" and Brexiters".

There was no indication as to what "Leave" actually meant, but the leading leave campaigners assured us that it wasn't to be a "no deal" Brexit.

"There is no for no deal, because we are going to get a great deal" - Boris Johnson.

"The free trade deal we will do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history..." Dr Liam Fox.

"The day we vote leave, we hold all the cards and we can chose the path we want." Michael Gove.

"Taking back control is a careful change, not a sudden step - we will negotiate the terms of a new deal before we start any legal process to leave." The Leave Campaign.

"We could have two referendums. As it happens, it might make more sense to have the second referendum after the renegotiation is completed."

Voters were clearly being led to believe that they were voting for a Brexit with a deal if they voted "leave".

How many of the leave voters were taken in by these statements, and how many didn't care whether or not there was a deal anyway, is difficult to know. With 52% voting leave, there is little indication of how many leave voters were OK with a no-deal. In the absence of hard data, a reasonable starting estimate would be half of them, making it 26% in favour of a no-deal. Polls indicate that this is too generous to the no-deal cause, the real number is less than that. Only a properly run and binding referendum with no-deal clearly specified as one option would ensure that the decision, whichever way it went, was properly democratic.

The 52% who wanted Brexit with a deal, or Brexit with-or-without a deal, means that 48% voted remain. This difference, 4%, represented "unfinished business by a long way", according to Nigel Farage. Certainly, a referendum that recommends the removal of peoples' legally acquired rights, normally requires a 60% to 66% majority.

The conservatives narrowly won the last UK general election, on a manifesto still advocating a Brexit deal. "Britain needs a strong and stable government to get the best Brexit deal for our country and its people." Again, nobody was given the opportunity to indicate their support for a specifically no-deal Brexit.

Now, after a referendum campaign which stressed the need for Parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament is being threatened by a move to bypass it and to impose a totally undemocratic no-deal Brexit.