About referendums
Referendums are held to ask people to vote on a proposal put forward by government. There are two referendums planned to take place in the UK in the next year.
For a summary of information on referendums and our role, see our referendums factsheet (PDF).
Referendum in Wales on the law-making powers of the Welsh Assembly
This referendum is planned to take place before the end of March 2011, though the Government has not set the date yet. We were consulted on the wording of the proposed question and assessed it to see whether voters could understand it.
- Find out more and read our report on our Wales referendum page.
UK-wide referendum on the voting system for electing MPs
The Government plans to hold a referendum on 5 May 2011 on changing the voting system for electing MPs to the UK Parliament. The Government has published their proposed question in the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Read the question here:
We will be carrying out our assessment of the question wording over the summer. You can read more about this process in these documents:
The date of the voting system referendum
We have made a statement about the date of the referendum, which is the same same date that Scottish Parliamentary, Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly and English local elections are scheduled to be held.
Our work on referendums
We were established by The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA). Read more about our role and responsibilities.
We have reviewed our policy positions and approach to referendums, as it has been some time since the last referendum held under the rules of PPERA in 2004. We wanted to learn from that experience in preparing for any future referendums. We have produced a summary of our views and the principles that we will use to make decisions in areas where we have a role in a referendum.
We also recently gave evidence to the Constitution Committee's inquiry into referendums in the House of Lords.
Future referendums
FInd out about future referendums on our upcoming elections and referendums page
Past referendums
Since 1973, nine national, regional and/or UK-wide referendums have been held in the UK. We reported on the North East referendum which has been the only one to take place since our formation in 2000.
North East (PDF) (England) - 2004
Northern Ireland - 1998
London (England) - 1998
Wales - 1997
Scotland - 1997
Wales - 1979
Scotland - 1979
UK - 1975
Northern Ireland - 1973
Read in Welsh/ Darllen Cymraeg >
