The wrong result?

So was the referendum outcome the wrong or right result?

In a democratic society, where the electorate have the power to hire and fire its legislators and take decisions in referendums like this one, it was the right result.  Because it was the result of the popular vote.  We the people and all that.

Now you or I may not like the result, but that in no way makes it the wrong result.

So I found Nicola Sturgeons words today rather at odds with the democratic process.  She as good as said it was the wrong result.   "Unfortunately, of course, yesterday's result in Scotland was not echoed across the whole of the United Kingdom. The UK-wide vote to leave the EU is one that I deeply regret," she said.  With the sub text, roll on another referendum.

So basically she is saying any one who disagrees with her is wrong.  Apart from displaying arrogance that the leader of the largest political grouping in Scotland really shouldn’t do, it also leaves her very little wriggle room for future negations or in decisions. 

She should have said “the voters are always right, but I don’t like the verdict they have given.” 

I think we could all cope with that rather than being told we are wrong.

Nicola Sturgeon said it was "democratically unacceptable" that Scotland faced the prospect of being taken out of the EU against its will.  She said she will be talking over the weekend with each EU member state to make clear that Scotland has voted to stay in the EU.   

But hang on, as Tom Harris of Scottish Vote Leave pointed out, "It's not the case that Scotland voted one way and England voted another. The voice of more than a million Scots cannot be simply be dismissed."

Nicola is being more than a little disingenuous for, if I recall correctly, it’s less than 2 years since Scotland democratically voted to remain as part of the UK.  And at the time we knew that there would be a referendum on the EU.

One final point.  People across the nation are tired of referendums.  They are exciting, they stimulating.  But they can be caustic and divisive.  In families.  In businesses.  In clubs.  In wider society.

Even if there was a democratic mandate, which I think there is not, to subject the people of Scotland to a third referendum in six years would be quite irresponsible and damaging to the people who have given her the authority to lead our government.  As we have seen in the last 24 hours, such a mandate is not to be treated lightly for it can be gone in a moment like the morning mist.

Ms Sturgeon must realise that sometimes there are things more important in life than big political ideas.