Thread by @EmporersNewC

Dear Parliamentarians,

You will be debating today on a number of issues and from time to time "implement the result" and "respect democracy" will be said. Since there seems to be some confusion around these terms, I've written this helpful guide.

1. In the days of the monarchy, people ruled by accident of birth. The job came with a duty to the country and its people.

2. Some monarchs didn’t live up to their duties and this tended to result in wars or revolutions. Democracy was seen as a solution to this. Our leaders come from us, they are hired and fired by us, and we make the rules so we follow the rules.

3. Democracy literally means “Rule by people”, and to implement this the UK is broken up into constituencies where people can vote for the person who represents them in parliament.

4. Our representatives our chosen from a group of candidates who stand in elections, usually on a manifesto. A manifesto is a declaration of their policy and aims should they be elected. An example of something you might find in a manifesto is a policy to hold a referendum.

5. These representatives often belong to parties which enable a harmonised approach to manifestos.

6. In a general election all the people vote together on who their representatives will be. The monarch then chooses someone who can command parliament to be Prime Minister. Usually this is the leader of the party that won the most representatives.

7. In the UK, the Prime Minister does not have to be elected. It has been a long time since it had an unelected leader, but in the 19th century the government was regularly led from the House of Lords.

8. The Prime Minster must then form a cabinet of high level government positions. These do not have to be elected either. Again, this was more common in the 19th century, but it is still not unheard of in recent times.

9. The Cabinet does not need to be representative of the United Kingdom either. A cabinet could be formed of people who come from a single concentrated area.

10. With scope for an unelected Prime Minister and cabinet, democratic legitimacy in the UK comes from parliament. The one place where every region, every vote, and therefore every person, is represented.

11. When a government is formed it can try to enact a policy in their manifesto they were elected on by introducing a bill to parliament. Again, it could be a referendum.

12. A referendum is a special kind of democracy where the people are asked to decide on a specific policy issue. The UK has two types, one that advises parliament, and one where parliament pre-legislates.

13. As part of enacting the policy the government would have to introduce the question to parliament, maybe choosing one which reinforced the consultative nature if it was an advisory referendum.

14. At this point, or indeed before, the people can interact with the representatives of their area through speaking to them, writing to them, the internet, or even going to see their representative speak.

15. At the second reading, our representatives are free to state the conditions and the limitations of the bill. Indicating that the referendum must follow good democratic practice in the interest of their people.

16. If the bill reaches the committee stage, the referendum bill will then be subject to detailed examination. Our representatives are also free to submit amendments, such as thresholds.

17. In the event of it being an advisory referendum government may argue that the thresholds aren’t necessary, because parliament aren’t giving up their power to consider the result.

18. The third stage is the final chance to debate the bill, it can also be used to change the bill in such a way as it puts limits on the government on when they can publish information.

19. After the third stage, the referendum bill goes to the House of Lords, an unelected chamber. If the referendum is not advisory, and is a major constitutional change, they are likely to send the bill back to parliament with suggested thresholds.

20. When the bill arrives back in the commons, they will debate the thresholds and, most likely, agree to them.

21. Finally after moving backwards and forwards, the government have a bill to deliver an advisory or pre-legislative referendum that contains both the question, and puts limitations on the government.

22. At this point, if it’s advisory, our representatives could go out and explain to the people that the referendum doesn’t necessarily mean the government have to implement it.

23. Within the limits set by the referendum bill, the government could also publish information making it clear the referendum is advisory.

24. If the government now want to give weight to the referendum they can bind themselves to implement the result, but obviously they can’t bind our representatives, because they have only approved an advisory referendum.

25. They can also, within the limits set by parliament, publish documentation specifying their position on the bill and making it clear that they intend to implement the result.

26. Then a number of weeks before the vote the debate starts, with people on both sides carefully debating the pros and cons of both sides of the argument.

27. Finally the people vote so the government can measure the support for a particular option.

28. Now, if the government try to implement the result without going through our representatives, people may seek to protect their democracy by taking the government to court.

29. If the Supreme Court conclude that parliament must be involved in the process, then any claims that the government made about implementing the result were both undemocratic and unconstitutional. Parliament was not, and could not, be bound.

30. The government must accept this, if it is to respect democracy, and create another bill to implement the result of the referendum.

31. Also, if the democratic process of the referendum bill is to be respected, parliament should consider any threshold that did not make it into the bill on the basis it was purely advisory.

32. If the thresholds meet their requested requirements, no further discussion is needed and government can then ask parliament to vote various bills through as part of implementing the result of the referendum.

33. During the course of the implementation there may be more cases where parliamentarians may feel the need to respect the democratic process by showing consideration for the things they said at the passing of the referendum bill.

34. For example, campaign overspend is common in the campaign process, but any signs of criminality in the spending process could amount to the very things our representatives said would affect how the people would perceive the result.

35. Another example would be if other governments alerted the country to a possibility of foreign interference. At this point our government and our representatives should act to protect the integrity of our democracy.

36. In the case that there is no criminality or foreign interference, the government will eventually come up with an implementation.

37. Since the public don’t speak only when spoken to, this is when the debate in the implementation begins. This could be formality unless certain conditions arise.

38. One of those conditions would be if the information in the debate did not honestly reflect the implementation. In a system of ‘rule by people’ the people can’t be said to have led if they have been misled in every direction.

39. Another condition would be if the information in the debate did not adequately reflect the implementation. A referendum is a decision, not a competition, and decision is only as robust as the information it is based on.

40. This could result in the implementation of the policy they voted for being rejected. This is then the end of the democratic cycle. The referendum set policy, the government implemented the policy, and the people rejected the final result.

41. At this point, the government may seek to bring it back in other forms, but ultimately parliament will remain sovereign. The people still rule. Their representatives can decide to continue to try and implement it, to cancel it, or debate a change to the policy.

42. Respecting democracy isn’t just about the vote, but respecting democratic process, respecting the democratic debate, respecting democratic institutions, respecting the law, respecting the integrity of our democracy, and respecting people’s ongoing place in democracy.

43. It’s about respecting the very reason we have democracy. Which means being careful who we elect as our representatives.

44. Because if the people we choose put the people’s wants over the people’s needs, then we undermine the whole reason we became a democracy.

/End