referendums and how they are used

Question 1

what is a referendum?

Answer 1

a vote where voters are asked a question about a proposal and the answer is yes or no

Question 2

list 5 major referendums that have happened since 1997
(1997, 1998, 2011, 2014, 2016/0

Answer 2

11 September 1997: Scotland – Scottish devolution referendums on whether there should be a Scottish Parliament and whether the Scottish Parliament should have tax varying powers (both referendums received a yes vote of 74% and 64% respectively. Turnout 60%)

22 May 1998: Northern Ireland – Northern Ireland Belfast Agreement referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, and establishing a Northern Ireland Assembly (yes- 72%. Turnout 80%)

5 May 2011: UK – referendum on whether to change the voting system for electing MPs to the House of Commons from first past the post to the alternative vote (no- 68%. Turnout 42%)

18 September 2014: Scotland – referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country (no- 55%. Turnout 85%).

23 June 2016: UK – referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union, or leave the European Union (leave- 52%. Turnout 72%)

Question 3

the case for referendums (3)

Answer 3

• purest form of democracy, demonstrate the pure will of the people
• can solve conflicts with the political system, e.g EU referendum
• people are more informed on issues through the internet and social media, meaning they are more capable of making decisions by themselves

Question 4

arguments against referendums (3)

Answer 4

• some people may not understand the complexities of an issue like leaving the EU or electoral systems
• it represents ‘tyranny of the majority’, meaning the minority have to live with what they didn’t vote for
• some questions should not be reduced to a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, some issues are more complex

Question 5

what is the Jenkins Commission? what impact did it have?

Answer 5

instead of national electoral reform, New labour decided to launch an investigation by Roy Jenkins into the best form of alternative voting. he proposed the use of AV+ instead of FPTP, but its proposals were not adopted

Question 6

why did the New Labour manifesto commit to electoral reform in 1997?

Answer 6

• it wanted to prevent another long tenure of conservative domination
• they pledged to modernise British democracy and bring it more into line with other European countries
• before the election, there was the concern that the party might not gain an absolute majority and would need to form a coalition with the Lib Dems, who were committed to electoral reform, so they also adopted these policies

Question 7

why was STV used in Northern Ireland in 1998

Answer 7

it reflected that it is a highly divided community and it would enable all communities to be represented in a multi-party system, which led to 5 different parties gaining significant representation in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998

Question 8

why did Scotland change their electoral system to AMS after devolution in 1997?

Answer 8

because they were concerned that the dominant Labour party would dominate Scotland in elections under FPTP.

Overall it was so that the main english parties couldn’t dominate Scotland like how they do in Westminster