Scotland, which has had a separate Parliament since 1999, votes in a referendum next month to decide whether its four million voters want independence from the United Kingdom, potentially bringing down the curtains on a historic union of 307 years. The September 18 ballot will determine the need for a second plebiscite to authorise the precise terms of a separation. The Conservative and Labour parties, besides the Liberal Democrats, have been strongly opposed to the demand for Scottish independence; but not necessarily to a referendum as a means to decide the question. Arguably, had this device of direct democracy been deployed more responsibly in the past, the vote may not have become inevitable. In the event, the referendum became a reality after the Scottish National Party secured an overall majority in the 2011 elections to the Scottish Parliament on the promise of a plebiscite. Mainstream parties have relied on the recourse to a referendum as a way of dealing with intra-party divisions over Europe and, more recently, on electoral reforms. Britain’s first-ever referendum of 1975 was beleaguered Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s attempt to shore up support for the country’s accession to the European Economic Community in the wake of Labour’s vote against continuation of the membership.
The effect of an emphatic yes to stay inside was but short-lived, as the eurosceptic backbenchers gained ground in the subsequent decades. As a result, political parties were hamstrung when it came to taking difficult decisions, and London was unable to exercise its legitimate influence in the bloc. Nearly 40 years after 1975, a referendum on renegotiating the U.K.’s membership, and worse, on whether the country should quit the EU, is on the agenda of the current Conservative-led coalition. The most recent nation-wide plebiscite held in 2011 on an alternative vote to the first-past-the-post system of election for Westminster lacked genuine political backing from any party. For the Conservatives, who prefer the status quo , the vote was merely a compromise struck during coalition negotiations with the Liberal Democrats. The situation was no different for the latter, who have long championed proportional representation. The Labour party was a divided house, even though it promised voting reform in the 2010 general election manifesto. The U.K. Electoral Commission estimated a cost of £75 million for the 2011 referendum. There is also the likelihood of the subject of any plebiscite being overshadowed by more immediate concerns. The wisdom behind asking the general population for a precise opinion on a specific matter with implications over the long term is also not conclusive. The rarer the recourse to a referendum the better, is the lesson from recent history.