As we approach the EU referendum, I am naturally starting to think of the legislative consequences of an out vote.

I often compare the EU referendum to the Scottish Independence Referendum. Of all the questions in the independence referendum the main point was, “What will happen after the 18th of September?”

In order to answer this question the Scottish Government produced a book called, Scotland's Future

in this book almost every conceivable question was answered by the Scottish Government to the best of their ability. This 649-page book covered what could happen to pensions, the NHS, defence,a new written constitution and many other areas as well.

In stark contrast almost no one in this EURef debate has asked this question, “What will happen after the 24th of June?”

This important question is just not being asked in the same way that seen during indyref. In fact, the only place you can really find any information on what could potentially happen after 24 June is on the Vote Leave website.

In case you cannot read it; the text from the website says.

WHAT HAPPENS THE DAY AFTER THE VOTE?

The day after nothing changes legally. There is no legal obligation on the British Government to take Britain out of the EU immediately. There will be three stages of creating a new UK-EU deal - informal negotiations, formal negotiations, and implementation including both a new Treaty and domestic legal changes. There is no need to rush. We must take our time and get it right.

This paragraph is significant. Since there’s no equivalent of the Edinburgh Agreement for this referendum, there is:

*No legal reason the government has to begin the process of decoupling the UK from the EU.
*No constitutional explanation of how the UK invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and;
*No confirmation that Parliament is bound by the result of the referendum?

I could go on but, I think those are three big questions that no one is asking. The debate is mostly focused on immigration and erroneous claims about how much money anti-NHS Tories are going to spend on the NHS with EU savings.

Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty allows for EU member states to leave but it requires said member state to negotiate the terms of secession from the EU with the European Council and the approval of the European Parliament.

Of course, the Leave campaign is not arguing just for Article 50 to be invoked they, are also arguing that they can get a special deal with the remaining EU and avoid Article 50 all together.

The detail on the number of negotiating positions is a little light which leads me to believe that these sweetheart deals are currently just assertions.

Questions over the post-referendum environment were the first ones answered in the independence referendum yet, in this one, we have almost nothing.

It almost sounds like everyone will just have to wait and see what happens but, these questions are serious and deserve an answer before people go to the polls.

Without any answers as to what kind of relationship people would have with the rest of the EU after the referendum the voters are very much in the dark.

I think the press had a name for that during the Scottish Referendum….uncertainty.