It’s Clegg’s Make-Your-Mind-Up Time
Nick Clegg wants a vote on EU membership but not on the EU Constitution ‘Lisbon Treaty’.
How does this make any sense?
If you consider that the British people should have vote over whether or not they stay within the European Union, surely you also think that they should have a say over the direction in which it develops? You can’t seriously believe that the people should have a choice over membership but not the direction in which that organisation develops.
If a referendum is held on the Treaty and the British people vote “yes”, then it is obvious that they want to stay within the EU. If they vote “no”, then the issue of EU membership itself becomes an issue.
I agree completely with Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, over this when he says:
Instead of hiding behind this call, they [the Lib Dems] should be honouring the promise they made to their voters that they would support a referendum on this treaty.
The Lib Dem leadership should either back a referendum on the Treaty or finally accept that they don’t want the British people to vote on the EU at all.
The Lib Dem membership seem to want to back a referendum on the Treaty, so why don’t the leadership? Is it because they’re chicken, and want to be able to sit on the fence? Yes, of course it is.
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Clegg obviously just cut a deal with his dissenting front benchers to stave off an embarrassing incident - he has no control over what is happening.
lettersfromatory:
No, Clegg (and Ming before him) promulgated this idea in the summer of 2007 and all through the leadership campaign.
One of the rationales for it is that for the first time the new treaty actually incorporates into the EU structure a formal mechanism for allowing a referendum in a member state on remaining part of the EU or not and if not a mechanism for orderly withdrawal, as I understand it.
So the idea is that you accept the treaty and then invoke one of its most important measures.
Jock, it simply doesn’t make any sense to call for a refernum over membership, but not over the direction that the EU takes.
No matter what provision apparently exists in the Treaty to allow us to leave. Anyway, since when has whether we want to hold a referendum on continued membership ever been subject to any formal EU mechanism? That is up to US, not them.