Pro-immigrant sign at the ‘March for Europe’ rally. Picture by: Jonathan Brady / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.Whether you are stuck somewhere between denial and anger in your grieving process or haven't quite sobered up from the celebrations, the UK has some big questions to answer after the vote to leave the European Union.
In the emotional days since the result, openDemocracy reached out to our readers -- and we hope beyond -- and asked: what do you think is happening? What action should be taken next, and by who?
Below are some of your ideas for Britain's future post-Brexit. You can read all the responses here.
Parliament must move out of London
Queen Elizabeth II at state opening of Parliament 2016. Credit: House of Lords 2016/Roger Harris. Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament.The mood in Britain is ugly, writes freelance journalist Matthew Teller, and is only set to get uglier.
To start clearing up the democratic deficit highlighted by the vote, he suggests that Parliament should move: “What could send a clearer message than the establishment packing its bags and clearing out of the capital?”
Migrants and refugees should help each other.
Pro-immigrant sign at the ‘March for Europe’ rally. Picture by: Jonathan Brady / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.
Zrinka Bralo, CEO of organisation Migrants Organise has written an open letter saying that the vote has left many migrants feeling unwelcome.
Bralo encourages migrants to share their experiences and have their voices heard in a “safe and democratic manner.”
Have a general election or risk autocracy
Prospective prime minister Theresa May on the campaign trail. Picture by: Jonathan Brady / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.
This is “an almost unique flirtation with direct democracy,” says Alex Goodman, a barrister specialising in constitutional law.
“Nobody has voted for this government or this Parliament to direct negotiations with the EU in any given way.
“The only means of safeguarding any democratic input into the reshaping of our country is for a general election to precede the triggering of article 50,” he says.
Left must mobilise the ‘working class’ -- differently.
A Scottish Labour Party supporter hands out leaflets. Picture: Andrew Milligan / PA Archive/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The Labour Party needs to come up with strategy for the working class to prepare them for the social and economic effects of the Brexit vote that are yet to come, writes Promise Li.
It also needs to re-connect their working-class base with a progressive plan for the future outside of the anti-immigrant right.
Leavers must take responsibility for their vote
Leave campaigners celebrate the referendum results. Picture by: Stefan Rousseau / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.
Who is going to clean up the mess after Brexit, asks Francesca E. S. Montemaggi.
“I’m not seeing Leavers being asked to take responsibility for the mess the country is in and the abuse foreigners and ethnic minorities are suffering,” she writes. “A democratic vote should come with responsibility.”
