referendums

Question 1

what is a referendum

Answer 1

a popular vote on a single issue put to a public ballot by a government

Question 2

why are referendums good for dictators

Answer 2

• good way for political legitimacy where there are no votes (Anschluss)

Question 3

referendums in the UK

Answer 3

• PSOV, gov have legislative sovereignty
• referendums take away legitimacy from psov
• Burke: Mps are unable to decide what is best for the country (brexit referendum vs 51.9% of mps wanted to remain)

Question 4

brexit referendum and labour mps

Answer 4

• labour mps with leave constituencies voted with conscience and decided to remain
• these mps were voted out in 2019, red wall fell

Question 5

use of referendums in EU countries

Answer 5

• used more frequently in EU countries
• civil use of nuclear power (austria, sweden, italy)
• constitutional changes (netherlands, france)
• membership of the EU (denmark, estonia, 6 others)
• sweden has provisions to use them but these are not binding on government

Question 6

british use of referendums + how does the executive gain power

Answer 6

• infrequent and non binding
• no provision in the constitution as we do not have a cod c, and PSOV is upheld
• law needed for referendums –> this grants the executive power

Question 7

UK referendums –> compared to general elections

Answer 7

• 1973, NI, status of NI in the UK
• 1973, UK membership in EEC
  1979, devolution (wales and scotland)
• 1998, GFA
• 1998 London mayor ref
• 2004 NE assembly
• 2011 AV, welsh ref
• 2014, scottish indp
• 2016, brexit/EU ref
• turnouts for referendums are significantly lower than GE

Question 8

describe referendum trends

Answer 8

• all concerning constitutional issues
• from 1973-79, C in power, and didnt like refs (esp thatcher)
• 1997 onwards –> new labour liked referendums
• 1975, 2011, and 2016 are the only national refs, all are regional
• 2011, AV by LD
• cameron used refs to deal with problems (LD, far right in C)

Question 9

political parties views on the EU

Answer 9

• 1970s -> conservatives loved the EU
• left of labour hated EU –> capital and against the workers
• present: right C hate EU

Question 10

uses of referendums

Answer 10

• debate constitutional issues
• creates unity within a governing party (rifts in opinion) –> cameron coalition and far right of C
• executive gains legitimacy for things it already wants to do; they are only held because they think they will win and achieve goals by appearing democratic –> they decide how a ref is conducted
• fosters participation –> 85% for S inp but 41% for AV

Question 11

information breakdown at ref

Answer 11

• inflation of figures –> 19 bil retained if left eu, and put into NHS
  (salient issue of 2015 GE)
• farage, inflation of middle eastern immigrants, salient issue for Brexit ref

Question 12

why are referendums popular

Answer 12

• Official recognition, e.g. Electoral Commission (2000) responsible for regulating their conduct
• Need for direct democracy
• Political participation between general elections
• Offer judgements on specific policies
• Avoid party divisions
• Required for constitutional reforms, e.g. devolution
• Popular with New Labour

Question 13

problems with referendums

Answer 13

• 1973, Northern Ireland – Westminister govt. did not agree to be bound by results
• 1975, membership of EU – criticism over wording of question, debate favoured govt view
• 1979, devolution Scotland & Wales – 40%+ support of electorate
• 1997, devolution for Scotland and Wales – Labour had a manifesto
  commitment to devolution, no threshold required, two different questions in Scot. & Wales

Question 14

problems with biased questioning with refs

Answer 14

• 1975 Membership of the Common Market – “Do you think the UK
  should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?”
• Loaded question
• 1997 Scottish Referendum - “I agree that there should be a Scottish
  Parliament” and “I agree that a Scottish Parliament should have
  tax-varying powers”
• Split question, people were not in favour of raising taxes
• 2011 AV Referendum – “At present, the UK uses the “first past the
  post” system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the
  “alternative vote” system be used instead?”
• Complicated, average person does not understand
• 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum - “Should Scotland be an independent country?”
• No Devo Max option, salmond argued people would go for this

Question 15

why are referendums good for democracy

Answer 15

• they raise participation
• they ask a specific question
• can consult the electorate on issues
• gives the government/executive political legitmacy
• can heal divisions in parties

Question 16

why are refs not good for democracy

Answer 16

• they undermine representative democracy and parliament
• further the ends of the executive
• gives additional power to pressure groups
• decreases participation, low turnout
• complexity of question and issues –> cannot be summarised in simple questions

Question 17

referendums are the best form of democracy

Answer 17

yes
- direct democracy –> representative assembly that is held regularly to account by the electorate, enrich democracy
- can help solve problems with fptp, the executives power and the unelected HoL
- legitimise and entrench major const changes (eg devolution 1997)
- ensures public consultation: national/local gov can engage with or enthuse the public for a change (2004 NE ref), esp for coalitions that didnt have clear mandates from the people
- gives policies political legitimacy if there is large support for it
- allow the electorate to determine an outcome: govs can allow the electorate to make difficult decisions for them to avoid unpopularity, and promise this in their manifestos too (C promised eu ref in 2015 manifesto
- makes policy makers share proposals and explain issues to the electorate –> political education
- bridge gap between elections
- answer a specific question unlike elections, and give a mandate to an action (2010 all major parties said they would reform hol but didnt)

Question 18

referendums arent the best form of democracy

Answer 18

• UNDERMINES PSOV: they are a feature of direct democracy, while the UK is a rep democracy –> political decision power is not given to representatives, and undermines the system of representative scrutiny and accountability (complex issues are given to people, who are manipulated by interest groups who reduce them to simple slogans)
• the tyranny of the majority: JS Mill = tyranny of majority is like authoritarian regimes, ayn rand = refs can legitimise the removal of rights of minorities and individuals
• they are infrequent, unlike swiss, so have disproportionate influence on outcomes –> voters may see it as a way to show displeasure for government
• electorate only has baseline knowledge of complicated and disputed issues (EU etc vs Scottish indp, where the issue is taught widely in S schools)
• legislature dominated as executive power increases, esp bad since HoL is mostly unelected and winners bonus (fptp) –> plethora of const problems dominates good of refs
• little participation: 41% turnout for AV, 35% wales 2011 and 50% 1997 wales, less than 50,000 for nots ref 2012 for mayor
• political uncertainty
• decisions bind future generations –>
• can be held at a politically advantageous time, 2014 S ref after glasgow commowealth games, cameron and EU ref to calm right of C, or delay problem to next election
• wording of question can mislead and manipulate, 2008 congestion charge ref in Man mentioned transport innovation fund proposals

Question 19

political parties, elections and referendums act 2000

Answer 19

• strengthens democratic justification for referendums
• spending limits for each of the rival campaign ensures a fair contest
• scottish indp: each side can only spend 1.5 million
• wording of ref question determined by indp electoral commission to avoid prejudice

Question 20

referendum use before 1997

Answer 20

• refs used for securing intra-party unity
• used when labour disagreed over europe by harold wilson
• disagreement over devolution in 1979 was solved with refs

Question 21

referendum use from 1997 onwards

Answer 21

• labour party was concerned policies over devolution and europe would alienate the electorate (EU, S dev etc)
• used to placate voters, tactical device to keep citizen support
• 2015 cameron promised EU election if election won –> trying to stop voters from voting for UKIP over EU membership

Question 22

referendums that had unique purposes

Answer 22

• dev: wales 2011/17, NE 04, Lon 1998 –> a convention had emerged, devolution issues were submitted to a referendum
• NI refs on GFA and S indp were due to the issues being of a large magnitude and needed to be ratified by the people and not just reps
• 2011 AV, C and LD did not agree on AV introduction –> ref held to avoid a gov split

Question 23

when are referendums won

Answer 23

when voters agree with the issue
- outcomes are determined by popularity of issues (electorate may not understand the finer details but can make sense of complex issues and make rationalised decisions)
- 1998, maj of NI voters decided 25 years of troubles was enough and GFA was needed
- 1997: S decided for parl in edinb
- 2014: S indp aligned with views of the voters north of the border as regards independence

when voters are swayed by different issues
- AV as not well known, and Clegg preferred STV
- voters used campaign to make decisions and clegg was criticised for breaking manifesto agreement of removing uni tuition fees + opponents used that to discredit him and AV
- shows voters use a referendum to punish a government to send a party signals that they dislike their policies or distrust the gov

voters wish to punish a gov
- gov lose 1% of the support for every year it has been in office
- this tendency has been observed in british referendums –> T blair won all 4 refs in 1997-98 when he had spent 14 months in office, but he lost the NE ref in 2004, 7 years after L took office
- Cam lost 2016 ref for Brexit when he had been in office for6 years

Question 24

factors associated with a yes vote

Answer 24

• even there is low turnout, a ref can still be won (GF ref vs scottish indp)
• wording of q: positively charged words tend to have positve verdicts –> not clear in UK in 1997 was electoral commission makes balanced and bland questions

Question 25

why are refs good for democracy

Answer 25

1. participation
   - Some referendums have had very high turnouts – GFA 81%, SIR 84% and Brexit 72%
   - 16 and 17 year olds turned out at 75% in the SIR
2. consultation and legitimacy
   - GFA 1998 sent clear support for peace process in Northern Ireland
   - Constitutional issues are important to people’s lives and so they should be consulted on them
   - Allows the executive to get round Parliamentary/political opposition to make change that people
   want – EEC, devolved referendums 1998, GFA,
3. divisions in country and govt healed
   - Heals divisions in the Govt – EEC 1975, AV 2011 and Brexit 2016
4. specific questions are answered on const issues between elections
   - Allows for particular questions to be resolved that were not General Election issues at previous
   election – GFA, SIR, AV (wasn’t a manifesto pledge by either Labour or Conservatives in 2010
   - Allows divisive issues to be “resolved” – EEC 1975, SIR 2014 (“for a generation”) and Brexit
   - Blunt instruments for deciding complex issues

Question 26

why are refs bad for democracy

Answer 26

1. reduce participation
   - Some referendums have had very low turnouts – AV 42%, and the referendums for devolved
   assemblies - never above 63%. In comparison General Elections have usually been higher.
2. undermines psov
   - Remainer Labour MPs representing Leave constitutencies had to make difficult decisions in the
   Brexit debates in Parliament
   - Not clear what the will of the people is – what kind of Brexit were people voting for?
3. too much power to the executive and pressure groups
   - Not clear what the will of the people is – what kind of Brexit were people voting for?
   - Not clear what the will of the people is – what kind of Brexit were people voting for?
   - “Project Fear” in SIR and Brexit, especially around the economy (Scotland “couldn’t use the
   pound” and there would be immediate tax raises in the event of Brexit)
   - Scottish Independence would end 300 years of ties and Brexit would end 40 years of legislation
   - Voters can vote on emotions rather than the “facts” – Brexit, but not SIR or GFA
4. complex issues and information breakdown
   - Tight margins or changing circumstances means issues are not resolved. What kind of Brexit and
   “buyers regret”. Uk decision to leave the EU meant SNP claimed Scotland was being taken out of
   Europe against their wishes (Scotland voted to Remain) so calls for further referendum on
   independence.
   - The Bus and £350m a week to NHS
   750m Turkish people will come to the UK
   - Complicated, two part or loaded questions: EEC 1975, 1998 Scottish devolved referendum (tax
   raising powers) AV, SIR (no devo-max),
   - UKIP and media campaigned for Brexit despite public disinterest up to 2015
   Allegations of illegal funding to leave side
   Cameron used govt money to send out 27m pro Remain leaflets before campaigning official began
   in May 2016