Referendums

Question 1

Ill informed vs get people involved

Answer 1

Although not the most convincing argument, it could be argued that referendums do not benefit representative democracy because the electorate can be seen as ill formed. It is argued that the direct democracy of referendums is a challenge to representative democracy and parliamentary sovereignty in the uk because of the easily misleading campaign of parties. For example, the likely future level and negative impact of EU immigration was overstated by the Leave campaign as they falsely claimed that by leaving the EU will free up to £350 million per week to fund the NHS. This reiterates the misleading nature of referendums that can be exploited by parties to raise support due to the representative nature of the uk’s democracy which often requires an elected official to represent its citizens. Moreover, referendums can also be extremely divisive such as in the 2016 Brexit ref where the vast majority of the electorate wanted to leave whilst the majority of parliament wanted to remain, leading to a sudden shift to right-wing conservative politics where there was difficulty getting Brexit done (David Cameron resigned because he was a ‘remain’ and couldn’t fulfil the popular opinion of the public who wanted to ‘leave’ and Theresa May’s Brexit proposal was defeated by parliament 432-202 three times) leading to the 2019 ge to resolve the issue.(largest discrepancies were found in the NE with 89.7% of MPs did not align with the majority in their regions nd constituency- 20% of MPs represneting ‘remain’ con supported leave an 69% of MPs reprenseting ‘leave’ cn voted remain= personal political conviction. However, it is more convincing to argue that referendums do involve people into politics and thus are a positive force in UK democracy. For example, the Scottish Independence referendum 2014 is a good example of this. The independence of Scotland should not be decided by anyone but the Scottish people themselves, getting people involved in politics and creating governments closer to them. Moreover, referendums isolate a specific issue and allows an unambiguous popular verdict to be given. This is especially important as trust in professional politicians is low in divisive issues such as Brexit that cuts across party lines so that a real choice can’t be given in a general election. This gives legitimacy to Theresa and Boris Johnson’s government after the referendum was held and gives them a mandate to rule. This prevents the government from being remote and unaccountable and could be a check on ‘elective dictatorship,’ complementing representative democracy rather than undermining it. Overall, referendums do get the people involved and improve representative democracy. However, there should be greater regulations to election campaigns to ensure that information is genuine. Despite this, the misleading information from the Leave campaign is unique to Brexit and can be resolved with more effective regulation by the Electoral Commission.

Question 2

Pm to settle internal dispute vs public pressure

Answer 2

Likewise, although not the strongest argument, it could be argued that referendums are sometimes held with the prime minister calling it to benefit his own party to solve internal divisions not the nation. This is shown in the 1975 European Economic Community referendum where Harold Wilson’s gov was split on the European debate. Making a decision himself would have risked splitting his party even further and risked his premiership. Therefore, he called a referendum to delegate the responsibility to the public as a convenient way to not be the one responsible for splitting his party. Moreover, David Cameron called a referendum because he promised the public a ‘simple vote’ in order to try to save his premiership after the UKIP party had gained more seats in parliament. This shows how referendums are sometimes not held in the most genuine way because giving the people the say is a second thought when their premiership is at risk. This is a not a significant argument as in both instances there were important political issues that needed to be settled. However, it is more important to realise that referendums are often held due to public pressure and thus serve the interests of the electorate. The 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the 2016 Brexit referendum, for example, were held due to the popularity of the SNP party and the growing support for the UKIP party. This can be see as a positive because it is democratic and ensures proper representation of the public. This is a strong argument as gives legitimacy to key constitutional decisions such as devolution to Scotland, wales and Northern Ireland to ensure that these changes are irreversible even though the uk has an uncodified constitution. Overall, referendums are held due to public pressure but one has to also recognise that individual parties call them to benefit their party. This does not mean that referendums shouldn’t be held anymore but instead more regulations to when they should be held such as only from support of e-petitions for constitutional reforms.

Question 3

3. Do not engage vs engage and enhance direct dem

Answer 3

Finally, it could be argued that referendums do not engage voters and lead to poor turnout – harming the essence iof democracy. To elucidate this, many people who voted for Brexit did so due to the feeling of being ‘left behind’ by the uk political systm and channeled this into an anti-EU sentiment. Moreover, the low turnout in the AV ref (42.2%) could be a retaliation against the Lib Dem party who had been unpopular since the 2010 ge due to them tripling tuition fee (about £3000 to £9000) when they pledged not to. This can potentially harm democracy because people are voting based on factors that are totally separate from the issue itself. However, it is more important to realise that referendums do increase participation and political awareness. For example, there was a high 84.5% turnout in the Scottish independence ref, including many 17 and 18 year olds. Likewise, Brexit also had a high turnout of 72.2% and educated many people about the impact of the EU on the British political system. Therefore, referendums do engage voters and make them more politically aware by participating in these political debates – thus limiting and helping the combat the participation crisis engulfing western politics. Overall, it is clear that referendums do engage voters and increase political awareness. However, the low voter turnout in some could be a sign of voter apathy to some political groups but ultimately, this can be resolved in the future by only offering referendum when there is large public support which can be done by releasing an opinion poll or act of parliament.