arguments for and against a referendum

ARGUMENTS FOR

Referendums provide a useful and potentially significant vehicle for increased direct political participation – helping to strengthen democracy. Voter turnout in general elections, local and european elections has been in decline for some time. Some people argue that referendums will help to create the sense of a participatory democracy - giving people real power and influence on important social and political issues

Referendums help to mobilise consent on contentious issues

They normally provide clear (decisive) answers to specific issues or questions which may be best settled outside of the Parliamentary (Westminster) arena

They are potentially a powerful check on the power on elected governments

Referendum campaigns serve to inform and educate the electorate on specific issues

The technology is now in place for widespread use of national and local referendums

May serve to revitalise local government and democracy - several councils are experimenting with the use of local referendums on issues such as education policy

ARGUMENTS AGAINST

No established mechanism for triggering a referendum in the UK

Referendums can undermine Parliamentary Sovereignty - ie the right of parliament to make and remake any law and not be bound by their successors.

Allows politicians to absolve themselves of responsibility for making difficult decisions

Governments unlikely to hold them unless they are fairly confident they will win the vote - the obvious example of this is the likelehood of a referendum on the Single European Currency

Governments are unlikely to be neutral participants and the phrasing of the question(s) can distort the results

Inevitably, there would be unbalanced resources for groups on opposite sides of the debate – how are referendums funded?

Complex and difficult issues can become oversimplified and the electorate may suffer from fundamental problem of lack of information – result may reflect “snapshot” of opinions that can change over time

Media and other agencies can significantly influence the result