"Nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 09-Oct-17 11:08 AM, Robin wrote:
On 09/10/2017 09:57, Nightjar wrote:
On 08-Oct-17 10:39 PM, ARW wrote:
eg Catalonia,

I'm all for democracy and a free vote.

I think the Spanish government made a serious error of judgment in not
allowing the referendum to go ahead without opposition. The evidence is
that only about 40% of Catalans favour separation. If the police had not
deterred any but the most vehement activists from voting, the referendum
would probably have reflected that. In any case, a referendum is not
binding and, in the Spanish case, the constitution would prevent the
government from granting independence even if it didn't.


That seems to me to overlook 2 matters. One is the Spanish constitution.
That was adopted in 1978 with a referendum (and one in which Catalan
voted overwhelmingly in favour). It provides that the Spanish nation is
indissoluble. The other is that the Catalan government's legislation for
was for a *legally binding* referendum. That made the referendum
illegal - as the courts ruled....

I didn't say they should have approved it, simply not stepped and
suppressed it by force. It would be a win-win situation for the
government.

Like hell ignoring a referendum would be.

If the separatists lost, they would have evidence that there was not
enough support for separation in a free vote. In the unlikely event that
they won,

Plenty ran the same line about the UK one.

they could say, very interesting, but the referendum was not legal and the
constitution prevents separation anyway.

And that would never fly.