Richard Dawkins infuriates Twitter users after 'patronising' rant about UK voters ahead of the General Election

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-dawkins-infuriates-twitter-users-after-patronising-rant-about-uk-voters-ahead-of-the-general-election-10189007.html

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Richard Dawkins is no stranger to infuriating people with his strident views on religion, but he's now managed to irritate a proportion of the British electorate.

The biologist and avowed atheist stated that the British public was not qualified to decide on whether the UK should stay in the EU.

Criticising the Conservative Party's manifesto pledge of a referendum on Europe, in which everybody would have a vote, he said that ordinary people didn't understand the ramifications of an exit.

It's one of the key promises to entice people to vote Tory, but it didn't work on Dawkins, who has in the past supported Labour and the Liberal Democrats. He believes that MPs should make the decision for their constituents.

Tory promised referendum on Europe is DEEPLY irresponsible. Absurd to trust the UK public to weigh up such a serious, complex economic issue

It's alarming how many people on Twitter haven't the faintest clue about the difference between plebiscite and parliamentary democracy.

I'm not qualified to vote on leaving the EU. Nor are you unless you've made a full study of the issues. We are qualified to vote for an MP.

We have a parliamentary democracy. MPs are paid to do the homework we don't. Don't trust your MP? Then vote him/her out. Or stand yourself.

Arrogant? Patronising? I specifically said that I am NOT qualified, not educated enough to decide the difficult question of EU membership.

However, the very idea that not all of the electorate is knowledgeable enough to make an informed decision on the issue sparked outrage.

@RichardDawkins Yes because we are all dumb plebs

@RichardDawkins you implied that your reader was also not qualified to offer an informed perspective, judgement, insight, vote, etc.

@RichardDawkins I'm an atheist but you're becoming absurd.

The Democracy Delusion @RichardDawkins

@RichardDawkins you are clueless

@RichardDawkins I'm sorry Richard, but that's extremely insulting to the public, and gives you an absurd sense of self-superiority.

@RichardDawkins Pat them on the head and say just leave it to us, we know better?

Dawkins may have inspired the ire of his followers, but he's not the only one to have spoken out against the proposal. Tesco chair John Allan has also criticised it, calling it "a particularly heavy kind of pebble to put in the scales".