The Prospect Podcast #187: Are referendums a force for good?

In this month’s issue of Prospect, we have two essays approaching the thorny yet increasingly unignorable question of referendums: are they really democratic? Author and former Labour MP Chris Mullin, in his cover story on the rise of nationalism under Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, warns that we may soon begin to have referendums on everything—including the return of the death penalty. Meanwhile political economist Helen Thompson argues that our whole constitution has, and always did, rest on popular consent—and referendums are inevitably needed when party politics fail.

Chris and Helen join editor Tom Clark to talk about the history and future of referendums in Britain, whether Brexit could have been avoided entirely, and whether we will soon see an independent Scotland.