Topic: | What is the point of a referendum? | |
Posted by: | Marek Wakar | |
Date/Time: | 24/10/11 21:32:00 |
The use of national referenda is quite recent - issues are generally left to our elected representatives to decide. The original 1975 referendum on staying in Europe was devised by Harold Wilson to manage divisions within the Labour Party (the two main parties really have reversed their roles since then!). So the fact that lots of people have never voted in a referendum on Europe is irrelevant. They haven't voted on many other things either: should we become a republic? should we go to war? David reckons that the majority of Tories don't want to leave the EU but neither do they support the status quo. That is fine, and if you believe that then the government should renegotiate terms and then (possibly) ask us whether we agree. If we held a referendum now then the question would be along the lines of: "would you like us to negotiate a better deal for the UK?". To which the electorate's answer should be: "that's your job. Go and do your job and come back and tell us the answer". The debate strikes me as a complete waste of everyone's time (EU and UK) when we all have more important things to worry about. Looking at the low politics rather than the issues, I think that this is great for Cameron. He stands up to a group who ask the wrong question at the wrong time and he wins. It is more like Kinnock standing up to Militant than Major being constantly threatened by the 1990s Eurosceptics. |