Disadvantages Of Referendums In Uk

Referendums are devices for obtaining extra legitimacy for policy proposals or for reducing internal party disputes over party alternatives. They tend to replace the normal role of parliament and are a form of direct democracy, although initiation comes from the government and not the governed. There is an indication of the growing frequency of the use of referendums as a way of legitimising policies or appealing to the public beyond divided party structures. What was seen as non-British, inconsistent with parliamentary sovereignty, has quickly established itself as a central part of the British political process. Referendums have been called as a result of political expediency when the survival of the government depends upon it calling a referendum
in order to resolve a political crisis. Referendums can be also called when the government is considering a major change to the Constitution and believes that it will only have real legitimacy if it has the sort of popular mandate that only a referendum can give. An example of this is Tony Blair who actually used referendums to give legitimacy to the constitutional changes that he was introducing to the UK, such as devolution in Scotland and wales together with power sharing in Northern Ireland in 1998. More locally referendums have been called on a number of towns and cities in the UK who wish to have elected mayors. These reasons are not necessarily mutually exclusive as both 1975 and 2011 had major constitutional issues that needed to be resolved and in both cases the future of a government depended upon a referendum.
There are numerous arguments both for and against the popular referendums, those in favour of referendums generally tend to point out that they promote political participation and increase voter knowledge on issues while strengthening democracy and legitimate the government. Referendums can be seen in a modern political context as a stepping stone between direct and representative democracy. The advantages of a referendum is that it can be seen as pure democracy which is not controlled by representatives which that of course is a reminder that democratic authority finds it legitimacy in the consent of the people. While some argue that they can see the value of referendums as a “protective device”, a guard against controversial decisions being taken until public support can be shown .A referendum seems to enhance public engagement with the democratic and political process and is an opportunity to participate directly in policy-making.
Referendums have also been called in the past as a result of political expediency when the survival of the government depended on calling the public in order to resolve a crisis.
An example of this is in 1975, the Labour government of Harold Wilson called a referendum on the membership of the European Economic community since his government was struggling over the issue and the only way of uniting it was to give the public a vote on the membership of the EEC with the condition to his colleagues that they would have to accept the majority vote. In 2011, David Cameron was forced to call a referendum on whether to replace FPTP with AP for Westminster elections since this was the answer the Liberal Democrats had demanded for joining the coalition. We also have had referendums to show the dangers of direct democracy. For example, in 1975 the “yes to Europe” campaign won successfully because it spent more than the No Campaign and was much more organised, and it also has been put forward that, in 2011, the “yes to av” campaign lost so heavily because too many voters saw the referendum as less about AV than as an excuse to punish nick clegg and the liberal democrats for their role in the coalition. There was a concern, too, that the referendum on Scottish independence might be determined more by enthusiasm for Alex Salmond and Scottish nationalism than for the appreciation of the consequences for both England and Scotland. Governments, too, can use referendums for their own advantage, rather than for the good of the public an example of this is from Harold Wilson in 1975 when he called a referendum on British membership of the EEC and the proposal that the public should be allowed a direct say over their council tax and whether it should be increased and that was politically motivated as based on the experience of Bristol where voters decided not to vote for a higher council tax to fund more money for education, voters are normally likely not to vote for an increase
which is what the Tories want as they are all about budget cutting.