London: Former Prime Minister David Cameron may have been campaigning for Britain to remain in the European Union (EU) but his speeches had the opposite effect, according to a new report.
A study by influential UK think-tank Electoral Reform Society found that interventions by frontline leaders campaigning for remain, including Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, unwittingly pushed voters towards Brexit.
"According to our polling, the effect of big personalities on voters' intentions was surprisingly minimal numbers saying they had been made more likely to vote Leave by every personality was higher than those who said they were likelier to vote Remain because of them," says the report titled 'It's Good To Talk: Doing referendums differently after the EU vote'.
"This may represent a large number of voters determined to demonstrate their Leave credentials no matter what, or a rebellion against some of the more 'establishment' personalities such as David Cameron," it adds.
The society found the EU debate was in "stark contrast" to the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, which it said had featured a "vibrant, well-informed, grassroots conversation that left a lasting legacy of on-going public participation in politics and public life".
"Traditional theory on campaigning in referendums is that such figures can command considerable allegiance owing to voters tendency to follow political party cues. But such was the culture of mistrust in the EU referendum that the 'big beast' approach appeared to have, for the Remain side at least, the opposite of the desired effect," it concluded.
Overall the Society concluded that the EU referendum debate was dogged by "glaring democratic deficiencies" that left voters feeling "ill-informed" and disengaged.
Indian-origin chief executive of the society Katie Ghose said, "This report shows without a shadow of a doubt just how dire the EU referendum debate really was. There were glaring democratic deficiencies in the run-up to the vote, with the public feeling totally ill-informed. Both sides were viewed as highly negative by voters, while the top-down, personality-based nature of the debate failed to address major policies and issues, leaving the public in the dark."
The only high-profile figures who persuaded more voters of their position than drove them to vote the other way were Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and US presidential candidate Donald Trump, all of whom backed Brexit, the study says.
The UK voted to leave the EU on June 23 by 51.9 per cent to 48.1 per cent.
Recommendations made by the Society in its report include having a public body intervene when "misleading" claims are made by campaigns, reviewing broadcasters' role and publishing a "rule book" to govern conduct by campaigns.
It proposes that future referendums have a guaranteed six-month official campaign, and citizenship education be extended in schools with the voting age reduced to 16.
BMG Research polled over 1,000 UK-based adults every month from February until the end of the campaign for the Electoral Reform Society's report.
