Should Referendums Be Used More Widreferendums In

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Should referendums be used more widely in Britain? There are varying opinions on the question ‘Should referendums be used more in Britain?’. In this essay I intend to outline some of these views and portray my own opinion. The definition of a referendum is: A vote on a single issue put to the public by the government. In the UK there has been nine referendums to date with two planned to take place in 2010, although; in the past many referendums have been planned/promised by the government, but have never gone ahead. One of the biggest problems that are faced when deciding whether referendums should be used more frequently is just what kind of issue would require or is suitable for a referendum. The decision is left to the whim of the party in power, which acts in favour to them as they have the power to only call referendums when they are sure what the outcome may be, consequently in my opinion rendering the referendum irrelevant and a waste of money. One argument for the ‘No camp’ is that while it is sometimes claimed that referendums enhance democracy, in fact they undermine our system of representative democracy. What they mean by this is that the decisions made, may not be as well thought through as members of the public are less likely to have an understanding of the issue than elected politicians, also by seeking a majority vote referendums may undermine the minority who are generally well protected within representative democracy’s, and finally the use of referendums on some issues may cause doubt to surface amongst the public as to whether the government are fit to govern, because they don’t know what decision to make. On the other hand, an argument used by the ‘Yes camp’ is that referendums encourage political participation and act as an educational device, their reasoning for this is that it forces the government in power to explain their policies
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