Article

Referendums

Thursday, 18 September 2025

government-and-politics paper-1 elections-and-referendum

Key:

European Union
Devolution
Election

Referendum	Topic	Electorate	Turnout	Yes Vote	No Vote
1975	Continued UK membership of the ECC (also known as the EU)	UK-wide	64.5%	67.2%	32.8%
1979	Devolution for Scotland	Scotland	63.8%	51.6%	48.4%
1979	Devolution for Wales	Wales	58.3%	20.2%	79.8%
1997	Devolution for Scotland	Scotland	60.4%	74.3%	25.7%
1997	Devolution for Wales	Wales	50.1%	50.3%	49.7%
1998	Approval of the Good Friday Agreement for Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	80%	71.7%	28.9%
2004	Elected assembly for North-East England	North-East England	47.7%	22.1%	77.9%
2011	Adopt the Alternative Voting system for general elections	UK-wide	41%	32.1%	67.9%
2014	Scottish Independence	Scotland	84.59%	44.7%	55.3%
2016	Remain/leave the EU Question: “Should the United Kingdom leave the European Union?”	UK-wide	72%	48% (remain)	52% (leave)

1975

Continued UK membership of the ECC

Government was neutral, Labour was split on the issue
- Some wanted to stay, others leave
Conservative Leader (former Prime Minister), strongly in favour of remaining
Turnout was lower than the last general election
- Unenthusiastic
- Primarily to resolve an argument in parliament (cynical)
- A reason for calling was to end debate in the Labour party.
  - This was not about democracy for the people, it was to solve an argument within a governing party.

1979

Devolution for Scotland/Wales

Labour had become reliant on the SNP for power within government
- Labour initially had a small majority
- Labour lost the majority through bi-elections
Condition of 50% of electorate had to vote yes
- $51.6\%\times63.8\%\ = 32.9\%$
- Failed.

1997

Devolution for Scotland/Wales

Labour had a clear option
- Devolution for Scotland and Wales
Giving the people a genuine choice, not being used to settle arguments
- Follows the idea that people should have a say over constitutional matters
  - The government should not make rules for themselves

Scotland was on the 11^th of September, 1997, Wales was on the 18^th of September, 1997 - a week apart.

It is likely that this was done to manipulate the democratic process in order to achieve a wanted result. They intendedly did them in order of Scottish then Welsh to influence decisions.

1998

Approval of the Good Friday Agreement for Northern Ireland, “The Troubles”

Related Video Wikipedia Article

High turn out as people were desperate to end the “troubles”
Referendum was to legitimate the agreement

Context

Terrorist violence (nicknamed “War of Independence”) by the IRA
Two groups
- Catholics (nationalists, republicans) - want to join the Republic of Ireland
- Protestants (loyalists, unionists) - want to remain in the UK

Affects

Created a Northern Ireland assembly
- Must be composed of two parties
  - One from the nationalists, one from the loyalists
No hard-border
Both groups were in favour of the agreement
- Additionally both Irish and British governments were in favour

2011

Adopt Alternative Voting System for General Elections

Due to coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats
Conservative party was against
Liberal Democrats were for

2014

Scottish Independence

Related Video - Yes Campaign Related Video - No Campaign, other

Campaign

Argument points
- For
  - More generous benefits
    - Free education
    - Parents given free baby stuff, valued at ~£250
    - although high-earners pay marginally more tax
  - England won’t have control
    - To be different and free
  - Anti-nuclear weapons
  - Campaign was targeted at younger voters
    - 16+ could vote
- Against
  - Scotland was reliant on the UK for…
    - Defence
    - Jobs (1,000,000+)
    - Currency
    - Shared history
  - Scotland already had a developed government and could have “devolution+”
  - Causing doubt in the for campaign

Both campaigns pulled heavily on emotional ties.

2016

Remain/leave the EU

In homework: Advantages and Disadvantages of Referendums