Debate on Referendums

The report, published in April this year, set out the Committee’s views on the use of referendums, including recommendations on when referendums should be used, whether they should be held on the same day as elections and who should be responsible for drafting the wording of referendum questions.

The Government responded to the Committee on 30 September rejecting the Committee’s recommendations that there should be a presumption that referendums would not be held on the same day as elections and that the Electoral Commission should draft the wording of referendum questions. Since the Committee’s report was published both issues have been raised in the context of the Government’s plans to hold a referendum on changing the voting system at general elections from First Past the Post to Alternative Vote.