Last year, Unite launched a referendum campaign to raise the minimum wage. Under the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act, they had one year to gather the 300,000 signatures they needed to trigger a referendum. Today was the deadline for that project. According to an email I got tonight, they failed:
To force the government to hold a referendum we needed 300,000 signatures. We managed to get two hundred thousand supporters signed up in just seven months is something we are all proud of. Unfortunately it isn’t enough to trigger a referendum. We always knew reaching the target was a huge undertaking. Wherever we went, people flocked to sign the petition. Our only limitation was not having quite enough resources and volunteers to get us over the line.So, no referendum then. But 200,000 signatures is an enormous achievement, and a significant show of support. The government and the opposition would be wise to listen.