Latest fun point to debate: Section 29 of the Scotland Act 1998 requires the devolved Scottish Parliament to act in accordance with EU law at all times. Only the Scottish Parliament can agree to repeal that provision. The chances of the SNP agreeing to this are zero. The UK could repeal the Scotland Act altogether, but that would also de facto require ending Scottish devolution, which would certainly lead to a major constitutional crisis, rioting and massive legal challenges in the supreme court and appealing to the European Courts (since we'd still be members of the EU, they would still have a say).
If Scotland votes to leave the UK, of course, that point becomes moot. But if Scotland votes to remain part of the UK, it would still have to agree to that provision. And because the Scottish Parliament still has a mandate from the Scottish electorate to act in their interests (regardless of the impact elsewhere on the UK), they would be perfectly in their rights to not agree. And if the UK government can't make them, the UK de facto cannot withdraw from the European Union. The same clause is in place for Wales and Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland also voted to remain in the EU.
There is also no provision in law for England to kick Scotland out of the union. So WTF would happen if that issue came up is completely unknown. It would be profoundly undemocratic for the 7.1 million inhabitants of Scotland and Northern Ireland to keep the 57 million people of the rest of the UK in the EU against its will, but it's also undemocratic for England and Wales to pull Scotland and Northern Ireland out of the EU against their will either.
There's also the slight problem that continued membership of the European Union is a cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, which ended the Troubles. Rebuilding the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will be very expensive, massively unpopular and reignite sectarian divides that have been (mostly) quite for a generation. Politicians of every stripe are having migraines even thinking about it.
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So many people are still in denial that the leave campaign did any wrong. Like, the lies are so obvious and some of them have been more or less publicly admitted but people are still "hah! Screw em!"
In the last 36 hours the Leave campaign has admitted that they won't be spending £350 million extra a week on the EU and they might not be able to halt free movement across borders if they want that trade deal with the EU. This is problematic for them because these were the two cornerstones of their campaign after they were routed from every single other front in the campaign.
With the mood in the country rather ugly at the moment, I hate to think what could happen if the new Prime Minister tries to say some time in the next two years that Britain will not be taking back control of its borders as was promised. Literal riots in the streets are a strong possibility, like there were in 2011 but this time on a much vaster scale.
Macros, on 25 June 2016 - 07:39 PM, said:
Any agitation on mainland Europe for exits? Or wishful thinking by the brexit supporters
Yes. Far-right parties in both the Netherlands and France are arguing for referendra. France is unlikely to do that, but the Netherlands just might.
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