The Referendum on Europe

With Eastleigh in the middle of a referendum on Europe it is perhaps worthwhile thinking about those two questions on the ballot paper:

1. Should the United Kingdom hold a national referendum on the EU’s Lisbon Treaty: yes or no?
2. Should the United Kingdom adopt the EU’s Lisbon treaty: yes or no?

Parliament is currently debating the new European Union Treaty called the Lisbon treaty which would give significant powers to the EU. MPs are going to decide whether Britain should accept the Treaty and whether to give people a say in a national referendum.

Currently most Labour and Lib. Dem MPs are in favour of accepting the European Treaty while many Conservative MPs are opposed to accepting it.

Can we trust the M.P.s to do the right thing? Well first we need to know what people think. That is the reason for having a referendum in 10 constituencies nationally and we are fortunate to be one of those. Our vote is supposed to represent the South East of England.

Personally I am in favour of being in Europe but not ruled by it. As the Lisbon treaty seeks to extend its rule over 60 of our vetoes I am against accepting the Lisbon treaty. In fact I would rather be out of Europe than accept the treaty. Why?

1. A secret European Parliament report has uncovered “extensive, widespread and criminal abuse” by MEPs of staff allowances worth almost £100 m a year. Many are illegally claiming £125 000 a year for staff and then disbursing it as they wish.
2. For 13 years in a row the European Court of Auditors has refused to endorse the European budget. However the MEPs have voted through the money anyway.
3. If MEPs cannot run their own accounts honestly are they the right people to be in charge of our taxes, our foreign policy, our laws and our borders?
4. The Lisbon Treaty will give them 60 new areas where they can make laws that affect us. Britain, by enlarge, obeys these European rulings, the rest of Europe, by enlarge, ignores them. So we as a nation are constantly shooting ourselves in the foot.

May I encourage all my readers to think carefully through these issues, vote in the referendum and make your views known to our MP and ex MEP who is one of the most pro- European people around.

We want a referendum!

A report of a meeting held on Saturday 16th Feb. 2008 at the Railway Institute.

Yesterday afternoon I attended a meeting at the Railway Institute in Eastleigh organised by the I want a referendum.com campaign. I had heard various bits about this referendum in the media which has been organised in 10 constituencies in Britain but wasn’t very sure what was going to happen at the meeting. It proved to be a very interesting time!

The meeting was hosted by a Michael Taylor of the “I want a Referendum” campaign who was at pains to say that he was politically neutral and had voted for all 3 parties in recent years. On the platform was Daniel Hannan, Hampshire’s MEP, Richard Robinson, prospective MEP, and Maria Hutchings, Eastleigh’s prospective Parliamentary candidate. There was a place set for Chris Huhne, but he didn’t turn up. The audience seemed fairly evenly divided between UKIP, Conservative and Lib. Dems. I didn’t discern that there were any Labour supporters present, perhaps they are not interested in Europe?

There were some good speeches from Michael Taylor, Maria and Daniel followed by a lengthy question and answer time.

The most interesting points for me were:

The Lisbon treaty is very similar to the Constitution which was rejected by two nations recently. It would effectively make the EU into a country with a head of state, a foreign policy, the power of coercive force and allow it to be recognised by other nations.

Many people spoke of the loss of Britain’s national sovereignty and the increasing control over Britain by Europe and felt this was a step too far. The general feeling seemed to be a preference “to be in Europe, but not controlled by it.”

When Daniel Hannan was challenged (by a UKIP guy I think) why the Conservatives had voted for the Maarstricht treaty he asked how many people who were old enough had voted for it. About 2/3 of the people in the room put up their hands while 1/3 of the audience had voted against it. Daniel explained that this was roughly in lines with the national vote. People thought they were voting for a common market, not national unification. They had been hoodwinked by the politicians (particularly the European ones). He then asked how many would vote for the Lisbon Treaty now. One person was in favour with almost everyone else against. He explained that this was like the Conservative party, they had made a mistake supporting the Maarstricht treaty and should not make the same mistake supporting this one.

One questioner suggested that it was as if the European train was hurtling along towards full unification and that we needed a referendum to give us as a nation an opportunity to stop the train briefly so that we could consider whether we wanted to stay on the train or get off.

A member of the audience explained that Chris Huhne was opposed to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but wanted a referendum on the whole issue of whether to be in Europe or not. Evidently he is starting his own campaign for a “real referendum”. This seems rather bizarre as Huhne was a European MEP and has really profited financially from Europe as well as being one of the most pro- European Lib. Dems. Before the last election Huhne promised the Eastleigh electorate that he would support a referendum on the European Union’s Constitutional Treaty. He has gone back on that promise, refusing to support a referendum on the treaty in his own constituency and yet wants his own idea of a referendum on whether to be in or out of Europe.

There were some interesting discussions between UKIP and Conservative supporters, with UKIP members expressing their surprise that Conservatives were so Eurosceptic and Conservatives urging UKIP voters to vote Conservative to install a more like minded MP and kick out a strongly pro-European MP.

The meeting ended after about 75 minutes with the platform speakers urging all present to use this opportunity to vote on a referendum. Some Eastleigh people will not have received a voting form because they ticked a box on the Electoral list form saying that they did not want to be contacted by 3rd parties. If they wish to receive a ballot paper they must call 0208 365 8909 within a few days. Voting closes on 25th February.