Do referendums strengthen or weaken governmental power?

This was my essay question, and this is my answer. I know it might be boring to read but I have no idea if I've done this right/grasped it so could you just offer your opinions. Thanks!

The relationship between referenda and governmental power is a complicated one; on the surface, the use of referenda transfers power from the government to the people because the electorate is able to make decisions itself, thus weakening governmental power in order to empower the people; although the government still has the ability to exert influence on the conduct of a referendum - by wording the question in a certain way, for example - this is by no means equal to the level of control that a government with a secure parliamentary majority would otherwise have.
Although referendums do initially weaken the power of government they could also, ultimately, be said to strengthen it too. Only governments are able to decide which issues will be put to referendums, and when. It is arguable, therefore, that governments will only hold a referendum if they are fairly sure that the outcome will be what they want it to be. Although power is technically placed in the hands of the electorate, the fact that governments tend to only hold a referendum if they are fairly sure of winning suggests that referendums are just another way for politicians to get what they want, the advantage for them being that popular endorsement on a certain policy or issue ensures that it is democratically legitimate and therefore more likely to be successful and able to go unchallenged, an example of this being the Northern Ireland Peace Settlement in 1998. However, the control that the government actually has over the outcomes of referendums is debatable; the media also has a huge impact on the result of a referendum, and can exert a bias which may be anti-governmental, thus weakening the power of government and limiting its control, as well as the Electoral Commission which oversees the conduct of referendum questions to ensure that they are not misleading.
To occasionally hold a referendum on a policy where the ‘approval’ of the people is necessary if it is to be successful is, therefore, beneficial to government - if, that is, the policy is actually approved. They do not necessarily strengthen, however, the power of government; it would be more accurate to say that holding a referendum strengthens the position of government by showing a majority for (or against) the issue in question. On the other hand, if called too regularly, and for every ‘important’ issue then they can significantly weaken governmental power and undermine the role of MPs.