Lots of people seem to be calling for a second referendum on the United Kingdom's status as members of the European Union.
The Labour Party policy is to renegotiate a deal with the European Union and then put that back to the public against a Remain Option.
However this to me seems very unfair to people who genuinely voted to leave at any cost. (I voted Remain but don't think it is right to just ignore the result)
If there were to be another referendum I can only see two 'fair' options. Either:
- To Leave with a deal, or without a deal (Either way the Leave vote from the 1st referendum is respected)
- To Leave with a deal, without a deal or remain. (If people have genuinely changed their minds then they can show it here, but if they haven't and they hate the deal then they can still vote to leave)
My question here is would it be possible to organise a referendum like the second one, where there are more than two options on the ballot paper?
If this is possible, how would the votes be counted? A simple most-votes wins could end up with more people voting to Leave in some form, but the single remain option ultimately getting more votes.