Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access originally published online on June 12, 2006
Parliamentary Affairs 2006 59(4):682-693; doi:10.1093/pa/gsl028
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The North East Referendum: Lessons Learnt?
Senior Research Officer at The Electoral Commission.
The UK has limited experience of holding referendums. The only national referendum was conducted in 1975 on whether the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market). However, since Labour has come into power referendums have been held in Scotland and Wales on the issue of devolution, in Northern Ireland on the Good Friday Agreement, and in London on the establishment of a Greater London Authority. The North East was the first regional referendum to be held.
This article provides an account of what happened in the North East on 4 November 2004. The Commission is uniquely placed to do this given its roles and responsibilities in relation to the administration of national and regional referendums. On the first anniversary of the referendum the Commission published its report on the North East referendums on the establishment of a regional assembly and in two-tier areas the structure of single-tier government in the event of a Yes vote. This was the Commission’s first report on a referendum in the UK. To inform its report we commissioned an extensive programme of research including quantitative and qualitative public opinion research; media content analysis; analysis of the campaigns run by the designated organisations and permitted participants; and analysis of the referendum data.
This article draws upon some of the key findings from the programme focusing in particular on the public’s perspective on the referendums and reviewing how they were played out on the ground. It also looks at the all-postal nature of the referendums and the impact this had on the campaigns run, media coverage and turnout, and how this compares with elections and previous all-postal ballots held in the North East.