Referendums in the United Kingdom

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Referendums in the United Kingdom are by tradition extremely rare due to the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. To date, only three referendums have been held which have covered the whole of the United Kingdom: the first on membership of the European Economic Community in 1975, the second on adopting the Alternative vote system in parliamentary elections in 2011, and the third on whether to remain in the European Union in 2016.

The Government of the United Kingdom has also to date held ten major referendums within the constituent countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on issues of devolution, sovereignty and independence, the first such referendum was the 1973 Northern Ireland border poll and the most recent being the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum.

In addition, there have also been numerous referendums held by local authorities on issues such as temperance and directly elected mayors.

Under the European Union Act 2011 there is provision for the holding of future referendums in the event of powers being transferred from the United Kingdom to the European Union under any treaty changes.

Status of referendums

Major referendums have been rare in the UK, and have always been on constitutional issues. Before Tony Blair's Labour government came to power in 1997, only four such referendums had been held.

There are two types of referendum that have been held by the UK Government, pre-legislative (held before proposed legislation is passed) and post-legislative (held after legislation is passed). To date both the previous two UK-wide referendums in 1975 and 2011 were post-legislative. Referendums are not legally binding, so legally the Government can ignore the results; for example, even if the result of a pre-legislative referendum were a majority of "No" for a proposed law, Parliament could pass it anyway, because parliament is sovereign.

Legally, Parliament at any point in future could reverse legislation approved by referendum, because the concept of parliamentary sovereignty means no Parliament can prevent a future Parliament from amending or repealing legislation. However, reversing legislation approved by referendum would be unprecedented.

Finally, under the Local Government Act 1972, there is a provision under which non-binding local referendums on any issue can be called by small groups of voters. This power exists only for parish councils, and not larger authorities, and is commonly known as the "Parish Poll". Six local voters may call a meeting, and if ten voters or a third of the meeting (whichever is smaller) agree, the council must carry out a referendum in 14–25 days. The referendum is merely advisory, but if there is a substantial majority and the results are well-publicised, it may be influential.

Planned referendums

The Labour Government of 1997-2010 held five referendums on devolution, four of which received a yes majority. One concerning the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was cancelled, given the French and Dutch rejections of the treaty. Another, on whether the UK should adopt the euro, was never held.

The Labour manifesto for the 1997 general election stated "We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons." Despite the research carried out by the Jenkins Commission in 1998 suggesting an AV+ system for Westminster elections, the 2001 manifesto did not make such a promise. After the inconclusive 2010 General Election the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed a coalition. As part of the coalition agreement, both parties formally committed to holding a referendum on changes to the electoral system. The referendum was held on 5 May 2011 and was overwhelmingly defeated.

Since the Government of Wales Act 2006 became law, there can be referendums in Wales asking the people whether the National Assembly for Wales should be given greater law making powers. The Welsh Labour Party - Plaid Cymru Coalition Government in the Welsh Assembly held such a referendum in 2011, resulting in a yes vote.

The Scottish Government held a referendum on Scottish independence on 18 September 2014. It attracted a turnout of 84.59%, the highest for any referendum held in the UK. The majority (55.3%) voted against Scotland being an independent country.

The Conservative Party announced that they plan to hold a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union (following a renegotiation of powers between the UK and EU), in 2017. However, their Liberal Democrat coalition partners took an opposing stance so it was not Coalition Government policy. The Conservatives then attempted to pass the required legislation as a Private Member's Bill (the European Union (Referendum) Bill 2013-14 introduced by Conservative MP James Wharton), but this was not passed by the House of Lords. Following the United Kingdom general election, 2015 the Prime Minister, David Cameron committed the new Conservative government to holding the referendum. It took place on 23 June 2016. The referendum resulted in an overall vote to leave the EU, as opposed to remaining an EU member, by 51.9% to 48.1%, respectively.

Organisation

Until 2000, there was no body to regulate referendums within the United Kingdom but during that year the government led by Tony Blair set out a framework for the running of future referendums when the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 or PPERA was passed, creating and giving the Electoral Commission responsibility for running all future referendums.

List of major referendums

Since 1973 there have been thirteen referendums held by the Government of the United Kingdom, the majority of them have been related to the issue of devolution in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales whilst to date only three UK-wide referendums have be held, the first held in 1975 on the United Kingdom’s continued membership of the EEC; the second in 2011 on the alternative vote system; and most recently, a third UK-wide referendum on the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union (EU) was held in June 2016.

United Kingdom

• United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975, on whether the UK should remain part of the European Economic Community (yes)
• United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum, 2011, 5 May 2011 (no)
• United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016, 23 June 2016, on whether the UK should remain part of the European Union (no)

England

• Greater London Authority referendum, 1998, on whether there should be a Mayor of London and Greater London Authority (yes)
• North East England devolution referendum, 2004, on an elected regional assembly (no)
• English mayoral referendums, 2012 on elected mayors (no)

Northern Ireland

• Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum, 1973, on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom or join the Republic of Ireland (UK)
• Northern Ireland Belfast Agreement referendum, 1998, on the Good Friday Agreement (yes)

Scotland

• Scottish devolution referendum, 1979, on whether there should be a Scottish Assembly (small majority voted yes, but fell short of the 40% threshold required to enact devolution)
• Scottish devolution referendum, 1997, Two questions: On whether there should be a Scottish Parliament (yes); On whether a Scottish Parliament should have tax varying powers (yes)
• Scottish independence referendum, 2014 on the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?", 18 September 2014 (no)

Wales

• Welsh devolution referendum, 1979, on whether there should be a Welsh Assembly (no)
• Welsh devolution referendum, 1997, on whether there should be a National Assembly for Wales (yes)
• Welsh devolution referendum, 2011, on whether the National Assembly should have increased law-making powers (yes)

Minor (local) referendums

Since 1913, local referendums have been held in England, Wales and Scotland, covering temperance, directly elected mayors and transport issues.

Elected mayors in England and Wales

Thirty-seven local referendums have taken place in local authorities to establish whether there is support for directly elected mayors. Thirteen received a "Yes" majority and twenty-four a "No" majority. The highest turnout was 64% in Berwick-upon-Tweed (held alongside the 2001 general election) and the lowest was 10% in Ealing. On average, the turnout was similar to that of local elections.

The majority of those were held between June 2001 and May 2002—a further eight have been held since.

In 2008 a reorganisation of Stoke-on-Trent's system of local government required a further referendum; this abolished the post of Mayor.

Source: Electoral Commission; Ceredigion County Council

Local authority	Date	Yes Votes	Yes Vote %	No Votes	No Vote %	Turnout %	Outcome
Berwick-upon-Tweed	7 June 2001	3,617	26	10,212	74	64	no
Cheltenham	28 June 2001	8,083	33	16,602	67	32	no
Gloucester	28 June 2001	7,731	32	16,317	68	31	no
Watford	12 July 2001	7,636	52	7,140	48	25	yes
Doncaster	20 September 2001	35,453	65	19,398	35	25	yes
Kirklees	4 October 2001	10,169	27	27,977	73	13	no
Sunderland	11 October 2001	9,375	43	12,209	57	10	no
Brighton & Hove	18 October 2001	22,724	38	37,214	62	32	no
Hartlepool	18 October 2001	10,667	51	10,294	49	34	yes
Lewisham	18 October 2001	16,822	51	15,914	49	18	yes
Middlesbrough	18 October 2001	29,067	84	5,422	16	34	yes
North Tyneside	18 October 2001	30,262	58	22,296	42	36	yes
Sedgefield	18 October 2001	10,628	47	11,869	53	33	no
Redditch	8 November 2001	7,250	44	9,198	56	28	no
Durham	20 November 2001	8,327	41	11,974	59	29	no
Harrow	6 December 2001	17,502	43	23,554	57	26	no
Plymouth	24 January 2002	29,559	41	42,811	59	40	no
Harlow	24 January 2002	5,296	25	15,490	75	25	no
Newham	31 January 2002	27,263	68	12,687	32	26	yes
Southwark	31 January 2002	6,054	31	13,217	69	11	no
West Devon	31 January 2002	3,555	23	12,190	77	42	no
Shepway	31 January 2002	11,357	44	14,438	56	36	no
Bedford	21 February 2002	11,316	67	5,537	33	16	yes
Hackney	2 May 2002	24,697	59	10,547	41	32	yes
Mansfield	2 May 2002	8,973	55	7,350	45	21	yes
Newcastle-under-Lyme	2 May 2002	12,912	44	16,468	56	31.5	no
Oxford	2 May 2002	14,692	44	18,686	56	34	no
Stoke-on-Trent	2 May 2002	28,601	58	20,578	42	27	yes
Corby	1 October 2002	5,351	46	6,239	54	31	no
Ealing	12 December 2002	9,454	45	11,655	55	10	no
Ceredigion	20 May 2004	5,308	27	14,013	73	36	no
Isle of Wight	5 May 2005	28,786	43.7	37,097	56.3	60.4	no
Torbay	15 July 2005	18,074	55.2	14,682	44.8	32.1	yes
Crewe and Nantwich	4 May 2006	11,808	38.2	18,768	60.8	35.3	no
Darlington	27 September 2007	7,981	41.6	11,226	58.4	24.7	no
Stoke-on-Trent	23 October 2008	14,592	41	21,231	59	19.23	no
Tower Hamlets	6 May 2010	60,758	60.3	39,857	39.7	62.1	yes
Salford	26 January 2012	17,344	56.0	13,653	44.0	18.1	yes
Birmingham	3 May 2012	88,085	42.2	120,611	57.8	28.35	no
Bradford	3 May 2012	53,949	44.9	66,283	55.1	35	no
Bristol	3 May 2012	41,032	53	35,880	47	24	yes
Coventry	3 May 2012	22,619	36.4	39,483	63.6	26.6	no
Leeds	3 May 2012	62,440	36.7	107,910	63.3	31	no
Manchester	3 May 2012	42,677	46.8	48,593	53.2	25.3	no
Newcastle upon Tyne	3 May 2012	24,630	38.1	40,089	61.9		no
Nottingham	3 May 2012	20,943	42.5	28,320	57.5	23.9	no
Sheffield	3 May 2012	44,571	35.0	82,890	65.0		no
Wakefield	3 May 2012	27,610	37.8	45,357	62.2		no
Copeland	22 May 2014	12,671	69.8	5,489	30.2	33.9	yes

Prohibition referendums

The Temperance (Scotland) Act 1913 provided that polls could be held in small local areas in Scotland to determine whether to instate a level of prohibition on the purchase of alcoholic beverages; the provisions were later incorporated into the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1959. Between 1913 and 1965 1,131 such polls were held, with the vast majority (1,079) held before 1930. These provisions and the local polls were abolished by the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976.

The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 mandated that all public houses in Wales be closed on Sundays. The Act was extended to Monmouthshire in 1921. Under the terms of the Licensing Act 1961, on the application of 500 local electors, a referendum could be held in each local government area at seven-year intervals on whether that district should be "wet" or "dry" on the Sabbath. Most districts in the border area and the southern industrial area went "wet" in 1961 or 1968, with most others following suit in 1975. In 1982, the last district, Dwyfor, in western Gwynedd, went "wet" and it was thought that the influence of the Sabbatarian temperance movement had expired and few referendums were called, but surprisingly a further referendum was called in Dwyfor in 1989 and the area went "dry" for another seven years on a 9% turnout. The whole of Wales was "wet" from 1996, and the facility for further referendums was removed by the Sunday Licensing Act 2003.

Transport referendums

Main articles: Edinburgh road tolls referendum, 2005 and Greater Manchester transport referendum, 2008

The City of Edinburgh Council held a postal-ballot referendum in February 2005 over whether voters supported the Council's proposed transport strategy. These plans included a congestion charge which would have required motorists to pay a fee to enter the city at certain times of the day. The result was announced on 22 February 2005 and the people of Edinburgh had rejected the proposals. 74% voted against, 26% voted in favour, and the turnout was 62%.

Parish polls

A parish poll is a referendum held in a civic parish under the Local Government Act 1972. The cost of holding such polls is met by the parish council.

"A poll may be demanded before the conclusion of a community meeting on any question arising at the meeting; but no poll shall be taken unless either the person presiding at the meeting consents or the poll is demanded by not less than ten, or one-third, of the local government electors present at the meeting, whichever is the less."

In September 2007, villagers in East Stoke in Dorset forced a referendum, under the Local Government Act 1972, on this question: "Do You Want a Referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty? Yes or No?" Of the 339 people who were eligible to vote, 80 voted: 72 votes for Yes and 8 votes for No. The poll was initiated by a supporter of the Eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party. The poll was criticised by the chairman of the parish council as "little more than a publicity stunt."

See also

• Elections in the United Kingdom
• Referendum Act 1975
• Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1987
• Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
• European Union Act 2011
• Edinburgh Agreement (2012)
• European Union Referendum Act 2015
• Category:Referendums in British Overseas Territories

External links

• The Electoral Commission - Referendums
• The Electoral Commission - Mayoral Referendums