A History of Independence: United Kingdom and Referendums
With the G20 summit in China, one country is in a standstill. Brexit can be attributed for Britians’ independence. But what exactly is Brexit, and why does it matter for the G20 leaders’ summit? Referendums play a critical role for the process of direct democracy, but the political landscape has a long way to go before it can claim a proper representative force.
Keywords: United Kingdom, referendum, European Union, voter turnout, European community.
Brexit is not the first referendum that the UK has created that reflects a more independent nation. The lowering voter turnout over the past 20 years has been problematic to exactly how politicians can engage the public in being more direct about their wants and needs, but no perfect direct democracy exists to date. The closest example to a perfect direct democracy is Switzerland, with mandatory public voting implemented. On the other end of the spectrum, the UK saw less than a third of the population show up for the referendum on Brexit.
Brexit: A Very Short Introduction
In June a referendum resulted in 51.9% of United Kingdom citizens voting to leave the European Union. That comes in just narrowly of a 50% +1 majority. The referendum to leave the European Union was first proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron, upon his re-election to the position of Prime Minister. Roughly 50 million citizens were eligible to vote, and over 30 million voted on the referendum, with a 72% turnout rate. Despite being just under a third of the population, this percentage is high in comparison to previous years of voter turnout.
Age of voters played an interesting role; with the youngest aged 18–24 voting on majority to remain, and the oldest at ages 65+ voted on majority to leave. The percentage of those who voted to remain decreased as age of the voter increased.
How Different Age Groups Voted on the Brexit Referendum
Not Historically Groundbreaking
This is not the first time the UK has voted on leaving the European Union. In 1975, the first “Brexit” referendum was in favor of the UK remaining a member of the “European Community”. The question proposed was not the same as the one asked this June, with the 1975 referendum worded as “Do you think the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?” In the 2016 referendum, the question was proposed as follows: “Should the UK remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” The choice of wording is not the same, so comparison of the two referendums on illustrating voter’s wants should be taken lightly. Both questions hold much ambiguity in the choice of wording, and it is often criticized that referendum questions are not representative of direct democracy. Similarly, voting on major issues such as Brexit are problematic when less than ¾ of the population vote on a decision where the long-term consequences will be near impossible to fix.
European Referendum Comparison: 1975 v. 2016
Note: 40 years between the two referendums means some 60 year olds could have taken part in both voting sessions. Age may be a causation in voting patterns for independence.
Too Complicated for One Question?
Studies often criticize the legitimacy behind referendums, claiming they fail to capture the democratic process. Calculating a broad political movement into a simple “yes or no” format means that voters may be choosing their sides without diverging into the background behind the referendum. Putting complex political issues into a simple vote is overlooking the political implications Brexit would have in the long run. Some would even argue that pitting Brexit to the citizens is inappropriate, and that the politicians should be taking the reins on such a massive decision. This is reinforced with the data showing voter turnout being at its lowest point in the past 20 years since the 1940’s. (Most statistical data of voter turnout in the UK prior to 1945 is incomplete, or not extendable to the entire population. Women of the UK were only granted the right to vote in 1918. Canadian women did not fully receive voting rights until the 1960’s) If barely half the population make it out on voting day for the general election then it is questionable if the 51% in support of leaving is truly reflective of the population’s desires. Not fully reflecting the entire population is problematic when the referendum is as impactful as Brexit is.
The future of referendums will need to be refined to reflect a greater representation of the population in the UK. Brexit has not yet significantly impacted the world market (although economists are becoming concerned in the long run), any opportunity to patch up future damage caused by the Brexit referendum would be costly and lengthy.
Additional Readings:
Existential Rethink: Curators, overwhelmingly Remainers, ponder how to respond to Brexit. The Economist.
Featured image source: Fortune
