Referendums in the UK

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                                         Referendums in the UK

Referendums are government proposals that are put forward by the electorate usually either to accept or reject proposals. Referendums are used as a form of direct democracy in the UK to either influence future parliaments to keep a proposal or to unite current parliaments under one policy. Referendums are considered as a direct form of democracy as the entire electorate vote on constitutional change. Referendums tend to be a Yes or No answer to the question. Referendums are made to make sure the question in no way influences the electorates vote.

There have been 7 Major referendums from 1997 onward. These include the devolution of power to Wales and Scottland (both in 1997), Greater London Authority referendum in 1998, The good Friday Agreement in 1998, North East England devolution in 2004, Welsh Devolution referendum in 2011 and the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011. Most of these referendums have been held in the concerning of devolving power to whom it may concern with the exception of the Good Friday Agreement which was a peace treaty, which even then concerned the devolution of power to Northern Ireland.  The Devolution of power in Scottland in 1997 was part of the Labour Manifesto and was a promise made after the failure of the first referendum due to the low voter turn out. The referendum that went hand in hand with that was the Welsh refernendum.  It proposed whether or not Wales should have its own assembly but unlike Scotland, could not have tax varying powers. After the 1979 referendum which had been a astonishing defeat, the chance of another referendum for devolution was slim, but Labour still implemented it into their manifesto to gain electoral votes. However the Yes vote was very controversial as the turnout was only 50.1% and the Yes vote got a Majority of 0.3%. The referendum proceeded and Wales got their assembly.  In 1998 The London Mayor referendum asking to see whether there was support for a Mayor of London It had a very strong yes vote gaining 72% of the vote and every Borough was in favour of the London Authority proposal.  The Good Friday agreement was one of the most of the most important referenda hosted in the United kingdom, arguably. The IRA were fighting a independance cause to give Northern Ireland independence from the United Kingdom, the Good Friday Agreement was a compromise. Northern Ireland would remain in the UK, (which is arguably what they wanted), but would recieve a Assembly. The Irish would stop laying claim to Northern Ireland and accept if it wished to remain in the UK it could. The proposal was quickly drawn out but Tony Blair and was incredibly successful, having high voter turn out in Northern Ireland, a notable 81.1%, and a 56.3% turnout in the Republic of Ireland.  In 2004, another referendum took place to devolve power to Northern England, but when the north east voted 77.9% against the proposal, it was dropped for the North West and Humber regions. The Northern England devolution would have lead to the reorganisation of local government, which is arguably the biggest reason for the fail of the referendum. In 2011, another devolution referendum was proposed to Wales, granting them power to change  and propose "All" laws as opposed to some. It would not need to ask the UK parliament for permission to create any of it's laws. Although the majority vote was 63.49% the turnout was considerebly low at 36.51% meaning the referendum isn't very legitimate, but the proposal was passed non the less. Finally, in 2011, one of the most catastrophic referendums was denied, the AV referendum. Av was a bad compromise proposed by the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats in the coalition, which the Liberals didn't want but had to accept anyway. The vote was a no majority with 67.9 Percent voting against the referendum than yes. The AV referendum had a large "No" campaign run, and was made out to be confusing and very ununderstandable. It could be argued because not even the Liberal Democrats wanted AV that it was doomed to fail from the start. Every constituency in the UK had a NO majority.

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In the UK, direct democracy is something that is used and played with like a play toy of government, usually used as a tool to gain popularity and nothing more. More direct democracy should definitely be implemented in the UK. The government tend to only propose referendums on things that will benefit them more and help them gain popularity or to bind the next government, as although UK referenda are not permenantly bindable and can be overturned by the next parliament, to do is severly frowned upon. One example where the UK government should have used a more direct approach ...

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