This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament
Petition Pass a law prohibiting or limiting referendums
Parliament should pass a law either prohibiting referendums or requiring that the result that would change the status quo would need to achieve more than two-thirds of the votes cast to pass.
The current EU referendum demonstrates that too often they are - disruptive, divisive and distracting.
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We live in a representative democracy. It is important that people have a say in their own government but it is equally important that we avoid a tyranny of the majority and that on particular issues voting proceeds on the basis of knowledge and understanding. Representative democracy, for all its flaws, achieves that goal better than any referendum can.
Meanwhile the referendum process distracts from other issues, falsely turns complex questions into binary choices and fosters division.
This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months
24 signatures
Show on a map the geographical breakdown of signatures by constituency
10,000 signatures required to get a government response