Referendum Party
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The Referendum Party was the name of a series of single-issue parties in the United Kingdom that called for a referendum on aspects of the UK's relationship with the European Union. By far the most significant was that formed by Sir James Goldsmith to fight the 1997 General Election.
The party's position was simply that there should be a referendum held on the UK's continued membership of the European Union. It had a policy to contest every constituency where there was not a leading candidate in favour of holding such a referendum. In general, most of the seats that they did not contest had sitting Eurosceptic Conservative MPs; however, there were some prominent pro-European MPs from all parties who were not opposed because they too supported putting the issue to the popular vote. Similarly, most Referendum Party candidates, activists and supporters were of a clear Eurosceptic leaning, but some were pro-European. In Northern Ireland, the Referendum Party did not stand, but instead endorsed the Ulster Unionist Party.
The referendum question which the party proposed to put to the electorate was announced in full-page newspaper advertisements on 28 November 1996. It was:
- Do you want the United Kingdom to be part of a federal Europe or do you want the United Kingdom to return to an association of sovereign nations that are part of a common trading market?[1]
The Referendum Party very briefly held a seat in the House of Commons after George Gardiner, the Conservative MP for Reigate, changed parties following a protracted battle against deselection by his local party.
In March 1997, the party delivered a VHS tape to over 5 million UK households. The 12-minute film, presented by former That's Life! presenter Gavin Campbell, warned of a coming "federal European super-state".[2]
In the 1997 election, the Referendum Party polled fairly well for a brand new single issue party, receiving more than 800,000 votes, but did not threaten to win a seat in the House of Commons. One of the most memorable images of that election was the sight of Goldsmith taunting David Mellor after the latter had lost his Putney seat, where Goldsmith also stood as a candidate.
According to analysis by John Curtice and Michael Steed, "only a handful of the Conservatives' losses of seats can be blamed on the intervention of the Referendum Party".[3] Their best estimate was that only four seats would have been Conservative without the Referendum Party standing. Supporters of the party contend that the effect was much greater: one estimate claims the figure was between 25 and 30 seats.[4]
Curtice and Steed's statistical analysis suggested that when a candidate from the Referendum Party or the UK Independence Party stood, the Conservative vote suffered, but where the candidate did well, it was by attracting the votes of people who would have voted for Labour or the Liberal Democrats.".[5] Gardiner campaigned for re-election in Reigate, but was not successful, losing to the new Conservative candidate.
Goldsmith vowed that the party would continue after the election, but his death in July of that year, deprived them of their most high profile figure and the financial support he offered them. The party formally ceased to exist not long afterwards.
A successor of sorts, the Referendum Movement, was created by the remaining inner circle of the Party. This movement merged in January 1999 with the Euro Information Campaign - another pro-pound, anti-Euro group funded by multi-millionaire Paul Sykes. The merged group, the Democracy Movement, is not a political party, but a political pressure group. Many members of the Referendum Party have switched their voting support to the United Kingdom Independence Party.
[edit] References
- ^ Andrew Pierce, "Goldsmith chooses his words for big question on Europe", The Times, 28 November 1996, p. 11.
- ^ David Hass, "The Referendum Party's video mailer strategy", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, October 1997.
- ^ John Curtice and Michael Steed, "The Results Analysed" (appendix 2), p. 308 in David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, "The British General Election of 1997", Macmillan, 1997.
- ^ Peter Etherden, "The Goldsmith Agenda: Beyond The Referendum Party.
- ^ John Curtice and Michael Steed, "The Results Analysed" (appendix 2), p. 307 in David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh, "The British General Election of 1997", Macmillan, 1997.
