Professor David Farrell:

That for me is an example of why we should not be such a Westminster democracy because we have referendums. The last time I checked, apart from Italy and Switzerland, we were the most regular user of referendums in Europe. That is giving the people a direct say in important issues of policy at a national level. In that sense, that is a good example of a more consensus approach. The Government was forced to have a referendum to decide on something it wanted to push through.