Democracy is defined as the government of the people, by the people and for the people. In a democracy people have influence over or access to decision making and everyone must be treated equally.
Direct democracy is a system in which every voter can take part in reaching a decision. The most obvious modern version is referendum where people vote “yes” or “no” to a specific question. Switzerland holds referendum at least three times a year to make the most important decisions even though they elect a parliament which is left to minor decisions. However, they hardly ever take place in the UK (the last one was in 1975), normally only at a time of constitutional change or when the issue is serious and based on public opinion.

One argument in favour of a greater use of direct democracy would be that direct democracy is the purest form of democracy and reflects perfectly the view of all the citizenry. There is not a difference between the people and the government and the people can shape their society accurately. However, direct democracy is impractical in a large society with 45 million voters. The amount of money and time that referendums take is not suitable for urgent decisions.
Another argument to support the use of direct democracy would be that it prevents politicians from going beyond their power when making decisions and it would increase legitimacy as the government is getting direct consent from the people through such methods such as referendums. Nevertheless, direct democracy could lead to the majority discriminating against a minority or there might be "voters fatigue" and there might be low turnouts in elections and referendums and so it might lack legitimacy. For example there was a 34% turnout to whether London should have a mayor and this results lacked legitimacy as the majority did not get involved.
The UK voters currently suffer from a lack of