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A reminder that Parliament is sovereign: it could be organised as quickly as the Act setting up the referendum mandated.
There is of course much force in the proposition that when it comes to elections and referendums Parliament should pay close attention to the body it has set up to advise on, and enforce, election and referendum rules.
It should certainly reflect about, and where appropriate make provision for, issues identified by that body.
And no one wants to get into a position where election and referendum rules are set by the majority of the day purely for party advantage.
(Though NB that FPTP survives largely because it suits the parties that benefit from it, and each party has changed or blocked changes to election rules in ways that probably suit the interests of that party.)
But if Parliament - especially on a cross party basis - decides in the national interest that a referendum is needed on question Q by date D, it shouldn’t feel bound by what the electoral commission says.
