Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Il quadro costituzionale: flessibilità della Costituzione, sovranità parlamentare e spazi partecipativi. – 2. Local option, referendum locali e “democrazia degli amministrati”. – 3. L’interregno: storia di consultazioni mai attuate. – 4. Il Referendum Act 1975 e il voto sull’ingresso britannico nella CEE. – 5. Un binomio ricorrente: referendum-devolution: la deludente esperienza del 1979 … – 6. … e lo sciame referendario del 1997-98 e oltre. – 7. Nuove prospettive del referendum britannico.

Abstract

To believe in the survival of the constitutional principle of parliamentary sovereignty and to support its capacity to address the pressures of day-to-day politics and constitutional change, «is not to say that direct democracy – voting on a subject matter rather than electing a person to vote on a subject matter – is unknown in Britain». In fact, various forms of direct democracy have been implemented in the United Kingdom thus making the referendum a part of the constitutional system itself, and arguably not a marginal one. There is a long history of 'local option' polls on alcoholic drinks, licensing and public libraries. There was an unsuccessful referendum on devolution in the Seventies and successful ones in the Nineties with which 'New labour' devolution was approved. Occasionally the 'people's veto' has been implemented and sometimes the community has assumed an advisory role in political decisions. All this demonstrates a tradition of participatory pluralism in the land of parliamentary democracy, a tradition that has a constitutional importance that should not be ignored. However, the calling off of local referendums on the would-be English regions and some of the clauses contained in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 demonstrate that referendums as political devices for bypassing the shortfalls of parliamentary democracy or as instruments of participatory democracy still have a long way to go.