Referendums Flashcards
Referendums have been used more frequently since when?
1990s
What have local elections typically been used for?
To approve or reject structural changes to local government and to authorize local policies
State and describe two examples of local referendums
- by 2021, 54 referendums had been held on moving to the directly elected mayor model, with only 17 approving the move. Seven referendums were held on removing the office of the directly elected mayor, with two of them producing a vote to abolish the post
- referendums were held on introducing congestion charges in Edinburgh in 2005 and Manchester in 2008. In both cases, around three quarters rejected the proposals and so they were dropped
State and describe some reasons why national referendums are held
1) constitutional change - the blair governments held referendums to approve their proposals for constitutional change, particularly devolution
2) coalition agreement - a referendum was held on replacing FPTP with av in 2011
3) party management - by calling the 1975 and 2016 eec/EU referendums, Harold Wilson and David Cameron hoped to resolve long running internal party divisions on the issue of European integration. Neither were successful
4) political pressure - the momentum for a Scottish independence referendum became irresistible after the SNPs victory in the 2011 elections for Scottish parliament. Governments are unlikely to hold referendums they believe they will lose and they have the advantage of controlling the timing of the referendum. Governments have also promised referendums, that, in the end, did not come to pass because of changed circumstances
Give two examples of promised referendums that did not come to pass
- joining the euro
- approving eu treaties
Which body is responsible for regulating referendums?
The electoral commission
Which act gave the electoral commission specific responsibilities on regulating elections?
The 2000 political parties, elections and referendums act
State and describe some different factors the electoral commission must regulate during a referendum
1) wording - comments on the intelligibility of proposed referendum questions. The government is not required to accept these suggestions but often does so
2) campaign participation - groups and individuals who expect to spend more more than £10,000 on the referendum must register as participants with the electoral commission. The comission designates lead organisation for each side of the referendum. These organisations have a higher spending limit, receive public money and are entitled to television broadcasts
3) campaign spending - the comission ensures that organisations and individuals adhere to limits on funding and spending
4) conduct of the campaign - the commission’s report on the 2016 EU referendum questioned rules regarding spending by the UK government
What is a referendum?
A vote, which may be national, regional or local, in which qualified voters are asked a single question about a proposal, where the answer is usually ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Why did an attempt to hold a referendum on northern Ireland in 1973 fail?
Half the community boycotted it
Describe how referendums actually operate
- governing party forms a policy
- legislation is passed determining the rules, process and wording of the referendum
- parliament passes the act, or delegates authority to call a referendum to another body
- the electoral commission determines the group’s that will officially campaign for each side and approves the wording of the question
- the campaign is held
- the vote occurs
- based on the outcome, tye result is put into force, either automatically or by initiating new legislation
Referendums can be described as ad hoc. What does this mean?
Parliament has choice over whether they are allowed to be held
Legally, what are referendums?
An advisory means of testing public opinion
What makes parliament unlikely to ignore the result of a referendum, even if they have a legal right to do so?
They hold democratic, or popular, sovereignty
Give a statistic that highlights how referendums are politically binding
77% of MPs votes to trigger article 50, despite 80% of MPs being in favour of remaining in the eu
What does British politics traditionally emphasise that makes referendums a rarity?
Parliamentary sovereignty over popular sovereignty
What does the lack of a codified up constitution mean for referendums?
There are no formal circumstances for which a referendum must be held
List the three UK wide referendums that have taken place
- 1975 referendum on remaining a member of the eec
- 2011 referendum on the use of the av system for Westminster elections
- 2016 Brexit referendum
State the arguements in favour of referendums
- involves and consults the electorate directly
- they can be used to settle internal party disputes or as a part of political deal making
- they help prevent an elective dictatorship by giving the electorate a say outside of general elections
- they can settle arguements by demonstrating clear public support
- Britain has no codified constitution so it is important the public is consulted on constitutional change
- they can help educate the public on the political issue at hand
- the electoral commission works to make sure they are independently monitored
- they make destabilising changes in the future less likely, as the government seeking to undo the change would face another major public debate
- they can increase participation at the local level
- the electoral commission works to make sure the wording of the question is fair
- they let the public have their say more frequently, which holds the government to account
- it gives the voter a clearer choice than a general election, as there is a single issue at stake
- prevents a government from rushing through change without consulting voters
- referendums brought peace and stability to the northern Ireland during it early stages
- many voters do not trust politicians, so think some questions are too important to leave to them
State the drawbacks of referendums
- undermine the idea of parliamentary sovereignty
- ordinary voters don’t have the expertise to make decisions on complex topics, so the vote could be uninformed
- referendums can be used to protest against the government rather than as
- they don’t always settle issues. Alex salmond said the issue had just been settled for a generation after the Scottish independence referendum and that the SNP wanted a future vote
- low turnouts can undermine the outcome and call legitimacy into question
- the arguements may not be clearly explained to the voters
- governments are under no obligation to call an election, even on issues voters feel they should have a say in
- turnout in the Welsh assembly was only 50%, and, because of the closeness of the result, only 25% of Welsh voters actually votes to set up the Welsh assembly. This undermined the assembly’s legitimacy
- they can cause a conflict between what representatives think is the best course of action, and what their constituents voted for, as was the case with Brexit
- the electoral commission reported that the 2016 Brexit vote saw distorted arguements used by leaders of both campaigns
- they tend to oversimplify things. As some things are too complex and have too many alternatives to be boiled down to a binary yes/no choice
- they can be extremely divisive, particularly if the result is close. Certain areas of the country are still referred to as ‘remain’ or ‘leave’
Who fronted up the yes Scotland campaign group in 2014
The SNP
Who supported the better together campaign in 2014
Labour, the conservatives and the lib Dems
What was better together criticised for in 2014?
A negative campaign that focused on the dangers of independence
List some factors that suggest referendums have improved representative democracy in the uk
- they have introduced direct democracy, ensuring that citizens have the final say on issues
- they have checked the power of government to ensure it is more responsive to the will of the people
- they have enhanced political participation, most notably in the Scottish independence referendum.
- they have educated people on political issues and improved popular understanding of politics
- they have legitimised important constitutional changes like devolution
State reasons why referendums have not enhanced representative democracy in the uk
- they have undermined representative democracy
- they have taken important decisions away from those with the greatest political knowledge or experience
- they have undermined parliamentary sovereignty
- they have created tensions between parliament and the people
- governments take advantage of their ability to decide when referendums will be held
- turnouts are often poor, which can lead to decisions being taken with a minority of electorate support
- referendum campaigns have been ill informed and distorted by inaccurate claims made by rival camps and media bias
Referendums have had an important political impact in what three key areas
- direct democracy
- parliamentary sovereignty and representative democracy
- constitutional convention
What impact have referendums had on direct democracy?
- they have injected direct democracy into a system previously wedded to representative democracy
- they’ve extended political participation
- they’ve made the government more responsive to the public on major constitutional issues
- they have created competing legitimacies
- some of the information prese ted by referendum campaign groups has been misleading
What effect have referendums had on parliamentary sovereignty and representative democracy?
- the use of referendums on major constitutional issues marks a shift toward popular sovereignty, where the people, rather than parliament, take the ultimate decision
- it has led to competing claims of legitimacy, due to the clash between popular and parliamentary sovereignty
In what ways have referendums affected constitutional convention?
- since the 1997 devolution referendums, it has become constitutional convention that further changes to the devolved settlement would require approval in a referendum
