The public have a right to a referendum.  The public deserve to vote in this referendum because it regards a constitutional issue – sovereignty. Beyond constitutionality, referendums maintain democratic society when the public’s views and MPs’ clearly misalign, as they do in this case. This vote will also maintain the established precedent of holding referendums on EU issues. If the British people had to be consulted on EEC membership, as happened in 1975, they must be consulted on EU membership: the current EU barely resembles the EEC that the UK voted to join long ago, but has greatly magnified stature and power.