The democratic process is a funny thing.
By their very nature, democratic elections are a reflection of the desires of the electorate at a certain point in time. This presents the system with something of a problem given that the wants of the public don’t stay static and are susceptible to change.
When Brexit passed on June 23 earlier this year, the margin was pretty narrow (51.9% to 48.1%) — a total of 1,269,501 votes. However, a forecaster has worked out that by April of 2017, this difference is set to be undercut by changes to the population as a result of people turning 18, people over 18 dying, and people over 18 becoming British citizens.
Change in electorate (deaths, new voters etc) means Brexit majority completely replaced by 29 April 2017 pic.twitter.com/iXRh6GqOBw
— Ed Thompson (@edthompsn) December 8, 2016
Of course, governments don’t decide to hold new elections or referendums simply because a narrow majority might have been replaced within the electorate — but it does give an insight into how small the mandate is for Brexit when the electorate has changed enough in just nine months to render a very different result.
