Should the UK use more referendums?

Referendums are a popular vote where the people are asked to determine the outcome of an important political or constitutional issue directly. The popular question that has been raised many times is whether the UK should use more referendums or not. I agree with having referendums to resolve issues, but I believe that the UK should not use more.

Referendums are a useful thing to have in the UK because they offer a more direct form of democracy by allowing citizens to have a real input into key decisions that matter to them; this leads to an increase in political participation. Referendums focus on, or renew the mandate on a particular issue or legitimising a major constitutional issue. This particularly becomes useful when Parliament cannot agree on a clear and final answer on issues. Referendums not only increases participation in democratic action, but it also educates and informs the public on particular issues. Referendums also checks on the power of the Government in between the General Elections; so each Government does not take too much power over the decision making as the public are given a voice.

All these elements of referendums are useful to the UK, however there are also some flaws of referendums that make them a disadvantage to Britain. For instance, referendums are inconsistent with representative democracy and undermines the doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty. This shows that, although referendums gives the public a voice and opinion of issues, they are only doing what the tax payer pays their MP to do; this makes MP's look weak as they can't resolve these issues themselves. Excessive use of referendums can possibly result in voter fatigue and a declining turnout because if they have to vote on every issue, they are going to get bored and will no longer see the point in voting. Also, referendums are not only expensive to hold, but different levels of funding and media influence could lead to a biased, unfair result. This is also seen when people vote on the popularity of the current Government more than the issue. For example, Nick Clegg was in favour of the Alternative Vote referendum, but as the voters began to dislike Clegg, they voted again the Alternative Vote. This shows that some people don't think about the question itself or what would happen under each outcome. Although referendums give people a voice, they don't actually have a choice what the topic of the referendum will be (politicians only have this power). How is this democratic and fair? Another disadvantage of referendums, is that they may result in a tyranny of the majority where the majority of the voters get what they want but the minority is left behind and left with a result they did not want! This also is not fair, but what democratic action is? This links with the next disadvantage: Referendums are also dangerous actions to take place because the future of important, controversial issues are in the hands of the people who may not be educated in the subject. Their choice may be based on what the newspapers think, which is usually not the best result.

To conclude, referendums are essential to the UK's democratic system as they give the public a voice now and again, in matters that matter to them. However, they shouldn't be used more because they give the public too much power (there's a reason why we have politicians who are educated in politics), to choose the outcome of controversial issues. I also don't see the point of referendums because the Government still has the right to make the final decision.