I think both the Scottish and EU referendums have shown the big problem with referendums in that they become adversarial and confrontational. Decisions like this are always nuanced- there are positive and negative aspects to either side- but referendums don't allow the nuance to be discussed. You can't seriously expect the electorate to weigh up the pros and cons when both sides are at each other's throats, calling each other liars and cheats whilst saying their position is idyllic and perfect in every way.
Both the Scottish and EU referendum campaigns degenerated into slanging matches which left a nasty taste in the mouth long after the vote had been made. I don't see how you can avoid this in any referendum: if something requires deciding by referendum, it is contentious, and if it is contentious then the campaigns are going to become increasingly histrionic in order to secure victory.
Senex said:
First topic? For me, assisted suicide, where all the polling evidence is that parliament is completely out of touch with the electorate. I find the alternatives of Switzerland and the pretence that the NHS offers good palliative care to all both pretty horrible. Let the people speak.
This is an excellent example of how deciding nuanced positions by referendum is only going to be a bad thing. A referendum can decide if we, in principle, want euthanasia to be allowed. A referendum can't, however, decide how euthanasia should be implemented, what checks and balances should be put in place, who should be eligible for it and how vulnerable people should be protected from being coerced into an assisted suicide they don't want. And as with everything in life, the devil is in the detail.
People who give simple answers to complicated questions haven't understood what the question actually is, but referendums only ever allow a simple answer to a complicated question.
We saw that with the AV voting referendum. Some people voted no because they didn't want AV, they wanted something else, but their no vote was interpreted as satisfaction with FPTP. Similarly some people voted yes because they didn't want AV but they knew they wanted it more than FPTP. A simple yes/no vote doesn't actually answer the question of what people want.