The ‘debates’ over Brexit are beginning to settle into extreme criticisms of people and things. It is clearly time for a change to take place and so this is my three way idea that might add to democracy that could involve everyone rather then deny it to all of us:

1. The Government is clearly not ready to put forward the idea of a solution that includes letting citizens express their ideas and this is understandable until after the vote in Parliament, however they could invite people to begin to explore what such a vote would look like if one was to take place. After all in doing so they would simply be doing what they keep on saying they do and keep on failing to do which is to LISTEN TO THE PUBLIC. One of the reasons why the supporters of the #peoplesvote along with anyone else interested should be invited to lay down some ideas of what such a mechanism could look like with the help of civil servants is because the comments from Jeremy Wright on BBC Radio 4 Today this morning made it clear he and his colleagues have no idea how to frame such an approach. It is as if they only understand binary decision making when it comes to the public, even though as MPs and Peers they consistently make decisions that take into account a myriad of amendments. This is deeply worrying because he served as an Attorney General at one point and was a QC and a Lawyer and legal agreements are constantly adapting and changing to reflect on the setting in which they fit!
2. The people inside and outside of the Government who are most extreme in their ideas about Brexit could start to outline what will happen next, taking into account there may be one of several ways of leaving. They could start to indicate how much actual growth will take place with other trading nations and how soon this will happen after we leave the EU on 29^th March. In effect they could begin to promote the way ahead.
3. Finally people like me wish for us to remain in the EU could begin to outline what changes to the EU would seek to achieve to help resolve the concerns of the public if we did remain so that if that happened no matter by what turn of events, how we would approach the EU with demands if we were to stay.

These three pieces of work do not change the decisions that will be taking place shortly but they will move on our activity from focusing on a vote that took place over 2 years ago to where we are aiming to be in the next five to ten years after the 29th March, bearing in mind that although we don’t know what the future will be, that considering every possible scenario makes a great deal of sense.