SIR – Bearing in mind that only once in the 20th century did a British government offer the electorate a referendum, and only because the Cabinet was split on the ‘Common Market issue’, and a second referendum in Ireland, such devices can only seem to offer genuine democracy and must be treated very cautiously as a blunt instrument making decisions.
Until the country can be assured of total trust and transparency in the way questions for a simple yes or no are clearly laid out, such devices are best left alone, except possibly on the question of the first-past-the-post system, as that is fundamentally to ensure better democracy.
G Steff, Wharncliffe Road, Shipley
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