Referedums

Question 1

What are three examples of referendums?

Answer 1

• 2011 UK: Should AV replace FPTP for General Elections - NO
• 2014 Scotland: Should Scotland be an independent country - NO
• 2016 UK: Should the UK leave the EU - YES

Question 2

What are Referenda rules and who came up with them?

Answer 2

• Words and phrases should not have negative/positive connotations
• Should not be loaded
• Should only have a binary answer
• Done by the electoral commissions question assessment guidelines

Question 3

What is the act that decided funding for referenda? And who violated the spending guidelines?

Answer 3

• Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act (2000)
• State funded and each campaign gets £600,000 public money
• The Leave EU campaign were fined for overspending by £85,000

Question 4

What is an issue with local referenda?

Answer 4

• More local = lower turnout e.g Nottingham Mayoral Election was 23.8%

Question 5

What are 4 advantages of referendums?

Answer 5

• Direct legitimacy
• Ensure more continuity of policy as are semi-entrenched
• Can be used when ruling parties are divided or put an end to divisive issues
• Encourage political participation

Question 6

What are disadvantages of Referendums?

Answer 6

• Electorate can’t understand question
• Government may ask the question in a biased manner
• Timing may be biased
• Can just be repeated until ‘correct answer is obtained’
• Government can just ignore them, only theoretically binding
• powerful and wealthy have too much power e.g media
• government may be forced to implement a policy they did not want and so may do so half heartedly