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In the run up to the forthcoming alternative vote referendum on 5 May 2011, Shaun Ley explores the history of referendums at various levels in the UK and thus the British public's relationship with direct democracy.

Clement Attlee famously derided referendums as 'just not British'. Many in the UK are instinctively resistant to the notion, preferring the supremacy of Parliament. But in recent years there have been more and more referendums from issues ranging from establishing the Scottish Parliament, to whether or not there should be a congestion charge in Manchester.

Supporters of this form of direct democracy say it encourages participation and puts power in the hands of the voter. But critics argue that the politicians hold all the cards, and that referendums are often used to get the government off a political hook, particularly when their party is divided.

While the AV referendum is only the second UK wide referendum - the first being the 1975 referendum on staying in the Common Market - there have been numerous other referendums of smaller kinds over the years. Some have engendered passion, others indifference, and one even a boycott. There have been unusual cross party alliances, and calculated distancing by those on the same side. Campaigners have organised eye catching stunts and wheeled out their best celebrity supporters. Sometimes, despite the music and razzmatazz, the voters have failed to engage. And sometimes voters have given the politicians a bloody nose and stopped a policy in its tracks. Politicians, including Neil Kinnock, Shirley Williams and Teddy Taylor, tell us how referendum campaigns have given them some of their best and worst moments in politics.

With archive and interviews, anecdotes and analysis, this programme examines the UK's referendums including:
- referendums in Wales on Sunday pub opening which were held from the 1960s to the 1990s
- the 1973 Northern Ireland "border poll" which asked if people wanted to remain part of the UK. The referendum was boycotted by nationalists, and 99% of those who took part voted yes!
- the 1979 Scottish and Welsh devolution votes, when voters failed to give enough support for the devolution proposals put forward by James Callaghan's troubled government, leading to the downfall of the government.
- the very different referendum campaigns in 1997 on Scottish and Welsh devolution, which lead to the setting up of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh assembly.
- the 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland;
- the 2004 referendum on the regional government in the north east, where the No vote ended John Prescott's dream of regional government;
- numerous local referendums, in London and elsewhere, on the introduction of Mayors
- the March 2011 referendum in Wales on extending the assembly's powers;

And of course there is discussion of that all important question - "referendums" or "referenda"?