These words came from Elizabeth Truss towards the end of her Prime Minister Question session yesterday and it was in response to a question or a call from Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow in London. I was very grateful for the comment from Gillian Martin which is shown here in the tweet image which I spotted because my contact Andy Sharman retweeted it. Gillian Martin is a Scottish politician who serves as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Aberdeenshire East since 2016. A member of the Scottish National Party, she has served as Convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee since 2021. As we can see below one of the challenges in my view is that Truss states “Is it not quite incredible that, six years after people voted to leave the European Union, there are people who object to taking EU law off our statute books?” and it is very clear that if 52% vote for a significant proposal and 48% vote to avoid it, that any credible person would have called for a review and a follow up before the decision was set out. Indeed Nigel Farage from the UKIP stated very clearly that if the result was a modest as 48% to 52% that there would need to be another vote. Sadly the Government ignored that call (and to be fair Farage only stated it because he expected 52% to vote for us to remain). So the tweet from Gillian stated

“I’m a democrat “ says Liz Truss at #PMQs . The Scottish people democratically elected a majority of MSPs who stood on a manifesto pledge to have an independence referendum. Does she respect Scottish democracy?

And the question and answer from the PMQs were as follows

Stella Creasy: It is always better to see a Prime Minister at her desk rather than underneath it. Now that she is here, can she tell us why, next week, this House will discuss legislation that will abolish vital protections on pension payouts, our right to watch the Olympics free of charge and airline consumer laws? How is any of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in the British interest?

Prime Minister: I think we have yet another example of somebody who does not want to support the British public’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016. Is it not quite incredible that, six years after people voted to leave the European Union, there are people who object to taking EU law off our statute books? Now, I am a democrat. I respect what British people voted for. I suggest the hon. Lady does the same.

If a democrat truly respects what people voted for, they would also reflect on what the proportions are and they would remain focusing on the aspects until a significant proportion is approving for a credible way forward.