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You forget the first law of referenda - if they don't get the result they want, they wait awhile and then have another - for example for devolution in Scotland and Wales, and for separatism in Quebec and Scotland. Once they get the result they want, then they don't hold another - such as devolution in Scotland and Wales, and the installation of a Mayor for London. It took over forty years from the referendum to remain in the Common Market to the Brexit referendum - in the meantime Labour had promised a referendum in their 2005 manifesto before signing up to the Treaty of Lisbon but, realising they might not get the result they wanted, they used some weasel words to get out of their commitment. I reckon if they had called the promised referendum then the EU might have realised they were in danger of the UK leaving, and shown a greater willingness to compromise instead of the stubborn refusal to do so which left David Cameron without a fig-leaf to show for his attempted re-negotiation. So it is hardly surprising that Starmer wanted a re-run of the Brexit referendum in the hope he could get the result he wanted. At least with a General Election one has to be held at a maximum of five years since the last, although the brief attempt at a fixed-term parliament brought in by the coalition, to take away the PM's option to call one when they thought the conditions were most favourable, did not last long - otherwise we would still have a Conservative government and be in the middle of an election campaign now.

Richard Greenhough ● 88d