Why risk a referendum? Reassessing the politics of the referendum in the UK.

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In the years prior to the 2016 EU referendum, commentators consistently lamented the state of UK democracy. The electorate were routinely described as disaffected, disillusioned and detached from the political system (Hay 2007). Though both the campaign and the consequences of the referendum were highly contentious, some suggested the boost to engagement it inspired provided an antidote to this malaise. The high levels of registration and turnout (72%) led the UK government to note that 'the EU Referendum demonstrated that the British public retain faith that their vote does count and that our democracy can still change the world around us' (HMG 2017: 31). However, the parliamentary deadlock which characterized 2016-19 saw the rapid re-emergence of democratic dissatisfaction, with a raft of constitutional questions coming to the fore. Framed within this context, my PhD thesis provided the first systematic empirical account of why the referendum first emerged as a political tool in the UK. Based on original, in-depth, analysis of the first four cases of referendum implementation in the 1970s (Northern Ireland border poll, European Communities referendum, and referendums on devolution to Scotland and Wales), it argued that despite the motivations of successive governments to introduce the device as a means of defusing intractable governing problems, in so doing they intensified political pressures around them. Through sustained analysis of how the device emerged across the course of a decade, the thesis moved beyond accounts of direct democracy in the UK which have focused on party-politics and constitutional history, and highlighted how the constitution can, and has often been, a site of conflict and political manoeuvring. Whilst I have published several articles on the constitutional conflicts which plagued UK politics in the post-2016 period, I am yet to publish any findings from the PhD project itself. The principal objective of this fellowship, therefore, is to complete and submit a book manuscript which builds on the thesis and adapts the text for a wider readership. I have already discussed the project with OUP, to whom I intend to submit the proposal prior to commencing the fellowship. In adapting and updating the text, the research will also build on examiner feedback to advance the analysis in two directions. Firstly, the book will highlight the uniquely transformative effect of Northern Ireland (NI) upon the evolution of the UK constitution, drawing on evidence from the first UK referendum - the 1973 NI border poll. Secondly, it will revisit questions regarding the compatibility of parliamentary and popular sovereignty within the UK system, noting how the political pressures surrounding the emergence of the referendum were rooted in this tension. Two additional journal articles drawing on data collected for the thesis will also be submitted and presented at international conferences. The fellowship also incorporates two workstreams which seek to capitalise on opportunities for dissemination, policy impact and to increase my networks both within and beyond academia. In undertaking two min-ifellowships - one at the Bennett Institute (Cambridge) and one at the House of Lords - over the course of the year I will be exposed to a range of research and research-adjacent contexts, developing skills and contacts across the research-policy interface. Through the coordination of the workshop on the politics of the referendum in the UK, the fellowship will bring together pre-eminent academics in the field and key policy practitioners to discuss conceptual and practical policy-making questions, focusing in particular on the role of direct democracy within local government. This diverse workplan has been crafted to ensure I maximise the opportunities afforded by the fellowship, not merely devoting it to research and writing, but to the cultivation of a skillset which fully equips me for a future academic career.