What Burke Meant

MPs with strong personal objections to the wisdom of leaving the EU, have found the words of Edmund Burke, speaking to the electors of Bristol in the late 18^th century, very convenient. This is what Burke said

“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

Superficially, this allows MP licence, nay duty, to ignore the opinions of their electorate and exercise their better judgement.

But hang on a minute because electoral times have changed since Burke's day. Before the succession of electoral reform legislation through the 19^th and 20^th centuries, very few citizens were allowed to vote at all. In Burke’s day, you would have to be a substantial property owner, male and Protestant to be involved in electing the local MP. Sometimes, only a handful of voters elected, often uncontested, their representative for Parliament. There was no such thing as a secret ballot, so votes would be cast under the watchful eye of the land owner in whose “pocket” the borough lay. In short, the whole electoral process was rotten to the core.

So, when Burke spoke about “serving you” the second person plural, to whom he was referring, was almost certainly not the handful responsible for his election but rather the vast majority of citizens who had no say in the matter but who were, arguably, most affected by the result.  In these circumstances, it would be noble and honourable to do the right thing for the people as a whole and ignore the instructions of his electors, a tiny minority.

Two hundred and fifty years later the electoral landscape has changed rather. Nowadays, we all have a vote and it would, indeed, be a betrayal for an MP ignore the overwhelming views of his constituents.

I do hope we do not hear the Burke defence deployed by pro-EU MPs in the future.  If they really cannot stomach the referendum result, they should be honest with their constituents, resign if necessary, and seek re-election on the platform of their conscience.