One constitutional referendum helped establish the precedent for another. The alternative-vote referendum was the Liberal Democrats' price for joining the coalition, while the Scottish independence vote could still be presented as a once-in-a-generation exception. Taken together, however, they made referendums a recurring instrument of British politics. A party could then campaign on offering a vote on European Union membership with less scope for the political system to reject the demand. Direct democracy can constrain politicians once they transfer a question to the electorate.
Notable Point · 2:48:04-2:49:56
How one referendum can make the next harder to avoid
The alternative-vote and Scottish independence referendums helped normalize direct popular votes, making a later European Union referendum promise harder for politicians to refuse.