Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Pressure on Ming to back EU treaty referendum

The Daily Telegraph reports that Menzies Campbell is coming under pressure from some of his own MPs to commit the party to supporting a referendum on the EU reform treaty:
A senior party source later disclosed that younger Lib Dem MPs have privately urged Sir Menzies to abandon the party's traditionally pro-EU stance and stop "taking the flak" for defending Brussels.
Iain Dale names some of those MPs as Jo Swinson, Norman Lamb, Julia Goldsworthy and Nick Harvey

I have written about my own view before. I am a bit of an agnostic on the European project, but if the pro-Europeans in the Lib Dems and beyond believe in their case there is no reason why they should not take on and defeat the anti-European forces in a referendum campaign. An earlier generation of pro-Europeans was able to do just that in 1975.
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous29 August, 2007 16:23

    I agree. On top of that there is a toxicity about the EU issue in the UK that is unhealthy and needs to be dispersed. The pro-EU movement has become remarkably ambivalent about democracy - I blame Tony Blair for reasons I won't go into here - and it is time we confronted this trend head on.

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  2. Francesca E S Montemaggi29 August, 2007 17:11

    I'm not sure what you mean by saying that pro-Europeans are ambivalent about democracy. As I argued on my blog, it's politicians and the media who are afraid of Europe. We should have a debate on values and principles, NOT on treaties. Treaties are legal entities that do require specific knowledge. Let's talk about Europe instead! The Lib Dems have become incredibly timid about Europe, I haven't heard anybody shouting outrage at the government for not including the Charter.

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  3. Mountjoy29 August, 2007 20:52

    Spot on. Whatever people's views on the referendum, they should still support one - against an undemocratic Brown - and make their case. This is the way to deal with apathy in the electorate.

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  4. Anonymous09 September, 2007 23:15

    The European Union has the Constitution of a dictatorshp, the laws of a police state, and 111,000 regulations which, when enforced, will give us a soviet style command economy and abject poverty.

    The EU Constitution will abolish the British Constitution and Westminster. Our three main political parties, including the lib Dems, will go.

    The British people hate the EU, and we know the Reform Treaty, to be ratified next summer, is the end of the line.

    So why shouldn't the Lib Dems win the General election (the one Gordon Brown is going to call to avoid a referendum), by being the only party to support outright withdrawal from the EU and repeal of all its treaties?

    David. 07974 437 097

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