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Reflections of a referendum fence-sitter

"This referendum matters more for the shifting contours of British politics than it does for our relationship with the EU"

by David Goodhart / June 23, 2016 / Leave a comment
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People arrive at a polling station in Harpenden, Britain, on June 23, 2016 ©Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images

People arrive at a polling station to cast their vote in the referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, Harpenden, 23rd June, 2016 ©Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images

I remain stuck on the fence staring at my polling card knowing that a decision has to be taken in the next few hours. Can I abstain? No, that is cowardly. Can I vote one way and hope that a small majority of my fellow citizens vote the other way? That would be weird and self-regarding, voting not for a narrowly preferred outcome but in order to tell people afterwards that I had voted a particular way because it felt better (and that I am not therefore responsible for the mess we are in!).

I am a moderate Eurosceptic, a moderate social democrat, a moderate social conservative. None of that is much use in telling me how to vote. I keep trying to trick myself by imagining turning on the radio tomorrow morning and checking to see how I react to either result. No dice, I can imagine hearing the news tomorrow morning and feeling equally dismayed and elated at either result.

I have no complaints about the campaigns (actually one quite big one, see below), they have been raucous and full of exaggeration and half-truth. As they should be. It has been the most class-based vote of my lifetime, with the normal alliances breaking down (at least in England) and conjuring something of a “peasants’ revolt” feel. Seldom has the GK Chesterton poem been more relevant (though I cannot recall seeing it quoted anywhere): “Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget; For we are the people of England that never have spoken yet.” Quite a few of them have been speaking in the past few weeks and many of the people who speak rather a lot do not like it at all—hence all the tutting about the vulgarity of the campaign.

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Comments

  1. Demosthenes
    June 28, 2016 at 20:01
    Thought I didn't have a vote (I live in Europe and haven't lived in the UK in more than 15 years), this piece speaks to me - even now, several days later - more than anything else I've read. I feel exactly the same.
  2. David Warden
    July 2, 2016 at 10:51
    Which way did you vote?!

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About this author

David Goodhart
David Goodhart is Director of the Integration Hub at the Policy Exchange think tank and editor at large, Prospect Magazine
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