MPs make final bid to force referendum on Europe
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Independent Minds
DAVID SANDISON
Protesters called for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty during this demonstration on a crane near Parliament
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A final attempt by MPs to force a referendum on Europe will be made tomorrow when the Bill implementing the Lisbon Treaty reaches its crucial stage in the Commons.
The Liberal Democrats, who hold the key to the vote, came under pressure to back a proposal for a "double referendum" on both the Lisbon Treaty and whether Britain should remain a member of the EU.
An amendment to the Bill paving the way for a two-question referendum has been tabled by the Labour MP Ian Davidson and could unite about 30 rebel Labour MPs, most Tories and some Liberal Democrats – enough to defeat the Government. The Liberal Democrats want an "in or out" referendum on EU membership while the Tories want one on the treaty.
Tomorrow's crunch vote could turn into the first trial of strength between Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, and his own MPs. He has ordered them to abstain on the Tory proposal but up to 15, including some frontbenchers, may defy him by supporting a referendum on the treaty. David Heath, the constitutional affairs spokesman, and Alistair Carmichael, the Scotland spokesman, are expected to back a treaty referendum.
Mr Clegg made clear yesterday that his MPs would be on a three-line whip to abstain on the Tory proposal. But he held back from threatening frontbenchers with the sack if they voted against the party line. He said: "Anyone who has been in those discussions knows that this is a collective discussion and if they were not to follow that three-line whip that would then to lead to developments which would arise between myself, those in question and the chief whip."
Mr Clegg published an Ipsos MORI poll showing that 58 per cent of people backed his call for a full referendum on membership of the EU, twice the number in favour of a treaty referendum. But the Eurosceptic I Want a Referendum campaign released an ICM survey of 1,000 people who voted Liberal Democrat at the last election, showing that 70 per cent want the party to back a "double referendum".
The Tories made a last-minute plea to the Liberal Democrats to honour their 2005 manifesto pledge to back a referendum on the EU constitution, the treaty's forerunner. They said the Government could be defeated if Mr Clegg's party joined them in voting for a public vote. "The LibDems have an absolutely pivotal position," said William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary.
Two men scaled a crane near Parliament yesterday and unfurled banners demanding a referendum on the treaty. Jim Murphy, the Europe minister, said: "The place to make these decisions is in this chamber – not on a crane halfway above the city sky of London."
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Comments
We must have a say on something so important and I believe the result would be a resounding No. How can something so important happen in a democracy without asking the people, it abolishes the definition of the very word 'Government' I for one and more than prepared to go on the streets and demonstrate about this (something I have never done) I have a son and I feel the future looks bleak at best with global finance as it is, but to lose your basic human rights and be under a totaliterian government who can amend thier own laws at will with no way of being accountable is unthinkable!
Tell me why all those people fought and died and lost loved ones in the first and second world wars? Tell me why my Grandad and many others didn't see thier children born or grow up till after they 4 or 5 years old and naturally it effected the relationship they had, the after trauma of how it effected the soldiers and nurses, seeing and doing the things they did and then coming back and having to fit back into society, changed by what you have lived through! I always believed that it was for freedom and democracy for all and the liberation of the world from a totalitarian leader who was sweeping across the world by force even against his own people who did not conform to his way. I felt that it was the only noble thing we have done for the world in history as a britsh people. If the Lisbon treaty goes through and I pray that it does not. It was all for nothing! The very though that all that loss was for nothing, that we could have that society with just a different bunch of elite dictators and we can't even say verbally that we do not agree with what they are doing. Everything inside me is screaming "NO!"
There must be some way we can lobby the government and make them give us a refferedum, if there is a way I promise I will be a part of it. We cannot sit and watch any longer, this cannot go through, it must be stopped and a demorcratic treaty put in its place, one that all 27 countries can read and then vote on. If it goes through then, I will just have to hope we can hop off out of Europe.