Vocal Voices

Is to be changed.

The Electoral Commission said the existing wording proposed by the government - "should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?" - could be perceived as biased.

It has proposed adding the words "or leave the European Union?"

So a really simple question with a simple Yes/No response has now been changed into what exactly?

The only possible answers to this new question are either Accept or Leave. Yes or No is no longer possible.

Who want's to be that the answer to this question will be Yes or No.

There is no point in a referendum if they are going to deliberately confuse the population. That's just a fraud and the Electoral commission should be brought to book over it.

When I first read about the change It all sounded like a bit of legalese, a lot of nonsense.

The original format was:

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?

Yes

No

*delete as appropriate.

It seems simple and clear enough. Delete No and you leave Yes, and vice-versa.

So the new format is now:

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

Remain a member of the European Union

Leave the European Union

*delete as appropriate.

I grudgingly accept that either choice made in the second format will be a positive one, but its clarity vis-a-vis the first is marginal.

I'm quite happy with the "new" question. I think the responses given are much clearer than "Yes" or "No".

I'm far more concerned that 55% of the population want to stay in, according to recent polls .....

Blimey O'Reilly, what a faff for a simple question!

I subscribe to the Peter Hitchens theory of opinion polls. Which is that these days they are used as an attempt to influence public opinion rather than reflect it.

In other words, they are bent

I think the new format is better. They showed a picture of how the ballot paper would look like on Sky, and it certainly looked clear.

So what exactly is wrong with

Stay in the EU

Yes
No.

Simple, direct, no higher thought functions required, a 10 year old could answer it without any further thought required.

Anything further is verbiage and nothing more.

I see that the government is now having to agree to the convention of "purdah", where it cannot make announcements on subjects of an election for the 28 days leading up to the vote, be applied to the referendum.

The combination of the two latest measures does seem to make the whole thing much fairer, and I say that as a Yes/In/Remain voter - for now.