Evaluate the view that referendums held in the UK since
1997 have brought more disadvantages than
advantages (30 marks).
Referendums are defined as a general vote by the electorate on
a single political question that has been referred to them for a
direct decision. Referendums in the UK since 1997 have
brought about many advantages but also many disadvantages,
however it is clear that these advantages outweigh the
disadvantages. This essay will cover three main points, these
points being, resolution of issues and legitimacy, participation,
and the impact referendums have on representative
democracy.
One major advantage of referendums is that they often resolve
major issues. For example, the Good Friday Agreement (1998).
This referendum helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland after
the violence of the Troubles. This referendum was heavily
favoured by the public, and this can be seen by the 71.1% of
people that voted in favour of this. Furthermore, this provided
legitimacy to the agreement, because it was ensured that both
nationalist and unionist communities accepted it. However,
some referendums have inevitably ended up failing to resolve
divisions and have instead deepened political conflict, thus
leading to prolonged instability. An example of this would be
the 2016 Brexit Referendum. The results of this were that
51.9% of people voted leave, and 48.1% of people voted
remain. This resulted in years of political turmoil, including
leadership changes, legal battles, and economic uncertainty.
This clearly shows how a close result can create more disputes
rather than actually resolving them. While some referendums,
such as the Good Friday Agreement (1998), have successfully
legitimised major constitutional changes, other referendums,
like Brexit, have worsened divisions, making their overall
effectiveness in resolving issues rather debatable.
