Whining Remain voters who are desperate to discredit the EU referendum have been dealt a blow by an official report showing that most voters are perfectly happy with how the vote was carried out.
The Electoral Commission published a report today showing that 77% of voters felt the referendum was conducted well, and 62% felt properly informed:
Their findings fly in the face of a report by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) two weeks ago, which claimed that there were “glaring deficiencies” in the referendum process, and that a majority of voters had no idea what they were voting for, effectively calling the result into question.
The hand-wringing report called for referendums in the UK be changed forever, and demanded that a Ministry of Truth-style watchdog be set up to police debate.
But, as Heat Street observed at the time, the authors of the ERS report seem to have an axe to grind.
Despite claiming to be independent, many contributors were clear that they had voted Remain, openly mourned the result, and mocked the victorious Vote Leave side.
Some later deleted public posts to this effect.
We also pointed out that the ERS proposals – of more election red tape – could profit them directly, as the think tank is largely funded by income from running elections.
By contrast the Electoral Commission – which also publishes data on political donations – has a legal obligation to be neutral and is widely regarded as impartial.
The commission’s report will help silence those calling for a second referendum.
A petition signed by four million people demanding a second vote was rejected by the Government, and the idea has been slapped down by Prime Minister Theresa May.
Doomed Labour leadership contender Owen Smith continues to insist on another vote, or even rejoining the EU again immediately after leaving it.
But Smith’s dream of getting back into the EU is due to be crushed along his leadership ambitions at the hands of incumbent Jeremy Corbyn, who we are pretty convinced voted Leave anyway.
ERS report presented polling claiming that only one third of voters felt “informed” about the issues during the campaign, implying that most voters have been conned.
But a source close to the new report points out that ERS’s poll was taken before the vote, whereas the Electoral Commission did theirs after.
The later survey found that 62% felt informed – compared to just 28% who did not – implying that the vast majority of the public are perfectly happy with the vote, and Britain’s future outside the European Union.
The full Electoral Commission report is hosted online and can be found here.