UK government caught in referendum trap

At the very mention of the word referendum, the UK government became snared by a trap of its own making, a trap from which it would be difficult, if not impossible, to extricate itself.

Wise counsel of the few remaining elder statesmen in Parliament has been virtually obliterated by more than three years of political ineptitude and clap-trap.

One imagines the only logical reason why several million citizens (EU nationals living in the UK) were denied their vote was simply that the government administered it as if for a constituency election, where they do not, and cannot, have an MP.

Secondly, having opted for a referendum, it is obligatory to inform citizens of knowledge, at least sufficient, of the issues at stake and their consequences as well as the foreseeable ongoing and long-term staggering cost in public funds and human resources.

Failure to do so results in a meaningless outcome.

Even at this 12th hour, one wonders if it may yet be too late for common sense to prevail. A vain hope maybe.

John Morris, Dordogne