I think in general there are too many issues.
On the one hand you've handed devolution out so you can't very well say to these areas they don't get a say.
On the other hand the populations combined or the 3 are not close to England's so why should they get to block?
This then begs the question.. is it a union or not... and if it is a union then the majority decide
I am afraid this does not have to be true. It is like a game. The players decide the rules. There does not need to be a rule of majority decides. If the countries decide before the referendum that they will go with all the countries having to say yes then that will be it. Canada and Australia have referenda which involve having a yes from all the states.
I also don't buy this business of constitutional crisis if the result of the referendum was not implemented.
1. The U.K. has no written constitution
2. The U.K. is a parliamentary democracy. Laws are not made by referenda. But by MPs and the House of Lords.
3. This particular referendum has no legal status to be implemented. It is only advisory.
4. The U.K. government not implementing Brexit will not cause a constitutional crisis, although I've got the feeling that the Tories will want to definitely trigger article 50.
5. MPs have to agree to the triggering of article 50. Will MPs agree to something In total ignorance of outcome - no idea what sort of agreement is or will be on the table?
6. It is now clear that the triumvirate Germany France and Italy have adopted a hawkish stance to stop others copying Brexit (which I've predicted before). Merkel gives a softer stance but my prediction is that ultimately she won't give us anything. Her insistence that they will not be any talks unless article 50 is triggered and her previous treatment of Greece should not give much hope that she'll be lenient on the uk.
7. Cameron leaving his successor to trigger article 50 was a master stroke. He's left him/her an unenviable task. Triggering that will immediately cause a crash as it will mean a run on the pound and stock market, financial, car making and other industries that do a lot of trade in the EU as uncertainty reigns during the negotiations. That PM will be remembered as the one who caused that disaster.
8. Once this is triggered all the cards will be held by the EU.
The only conclusion I come to is that the article 50 cannot be and should not be triggered unless we are prepared to destroy our own economic future. A recession is now inevitable but that itself would be nothing if we have 2 years of uncertainty and industries take flight to Europe.
The government and parliament will have to accept that this referendum was a mistake and cannot be implemented unless we decide to commit national economic suicide. Of course some people will be upset about the shambles and the will of the people being thwarted but it is better than destroying the future of whole generations.
