Political activist Jonathan Starling has proposed amendments to the Referendum Act to help ensure neutral referendum questions.

The draft amendments, which Mr Starling said are based on UK legislation, would task the Parliamentary Registrar with considering the wording on any referendum questions.

He has released his suggested draft amendments to encourage public discussion and also in the hope that members of the public might lobby their local MP to have it adopted and tabled in Parliament.

“Almost exactly a year ago, on November 29, 2013, the Government introduced the Referendum Act 2013, which tabled the proposed question for the referendum on casino gambling that both parties promised in their 2012 election platforms and the OBA promised throughout 2013,” said Mr Starling.

“The wording of the proposed referendum question was heavily criticised by various stakeholders and members of the community as being overly biased as to prejudice the outcome of the proposed referendum to the point that the credibility of such a referendum was called into question.

“It was in the face of this criticism that the Government, rather than amend the question to a neutral one, decided to break their promise and insisted that casino gambling would instead be passed as legislation using a three-line whip — thus breaking a key election pledge, undermining all future electoral promises and denying the people the vote they had been led to believe was promised.”

Mr Starling said the incident highlighted a flaw in the legislation, and the draft amendments would ensure that future referendum questions are “neutral and intelligible”.

According to the draft, the Parliamentary register would consider the wording on all referendum questions and publish a report. If the question is unintelligible or biased, the registrar would be empowered to postpone the referendum until a new question is decided.

“It should be noted that in the UK the Electoral Commission is legislatively mandated to ensure that referendum questions are neutral and intelligible, and I have drawn on the relevant UK legislation in preparing this draft Referendum (Clarity) Act,” said Mr Starling. “While we do not have an Electoral Commission, the Parliamentary Registrar is the closest we do have, and as such I felt it best to provide them with this responsibility.

“I welcome feedback on it, and call for its adoption by our parliamentarians.”