Re: Dumbing down the general population
They succeeded above all expectations but in a completely unexpected way they didn't like: a majority voted for Brexit, largely because of the nasty habit of Whitehall to unjustly blame all impopular legislation on Brussels.
I think it's a bit presumptuous to assume that voting for Brexit = dumbed down.
I voted for Brexit, and oddly enough one of the reasons was so that our fawning politicians wouldn't have a skirt to hide behind anymore and we could actually stand a chance of holding them to account.