Sunday, April 11, 2010

Cameron Commits to Early Euro Referedum Legislation

Something from David Cameron's interview in today's Sunday Telegraph which no one has commented on is his promise to legislate in the first year if a Tory government on the obligation to have a referendum before any further transferance of powers to Brussels. This is what he told Patrick Hennesy.

Among the first things Mr Cameron wants to do, he discloses, is pass new legislation ensuring a referendum will be held in Britain if the European Union makes a major new effort to transfer powers to Brussels.

"I think what's exciting about this is, that if we are able to do this, in a first Queen's Speech, the other parties will be challenged to back it. I don't see how they will be able to get out of backing it."

Let battle commence. Because I think he's wrong. I don't think Labour or the LibDems would back this. And if there's a hung parliament, what's the betting that the LibDems would demand this be dropped from the Queen's Speech?


19 comments:

rob's uncle said...

Since there are no plans for any such 'major transfer' this is gesture politics about something unimportant, which need not get in the way of serious politic if he has to try to strike a deal with the Lib Dems.

Irene said...

Iain, there WON'T be a hung Parliament.

The Filthy Engineer said...

There should be two questions.

1. Should we allow the transfer of further powers to the EU?

2. Do you think that we should leave the european union entirely?

I know what the majority of the voting public will say. No & yes

john in cheshire said...

It would be better if we had a referendum on getting us out of the EU altogether. Membership of this socialist dictatorship is the one thing which prevents us doing virtually everything we need to do to return to a civilised first world country.

Unknown said...

Key question for me is not whether the Lib Dems or Labour would back it, it's whether or not Ken Clarke would back it.

Alan Douglas said...

Great, but there is nothing "major" left to transfer !

Alan Douglas

MikeyP said...

Rearrange the following into a well known phrase or saying:

Stable locking horse door after the bolted the has!

Not a sheep said...

Will this stop enough votes leaking to UKIP?

Autonomous Mind said...

Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted is a waste of parliamentary time, Iain.

Cameron knows, as does everyone who has looked closely at what the Lisbon Treaty provisions enable by way of transfer of powers, that his pledge is worthless.

The fact is, on Lisbon, Cameron is 'letting matters rest there'. Moving a Bill to prevent golf courses being built on Jupiter carries the same weight as this proposal.

DC said...

Everything is so interlinked now that they need no further transfer of powers. They can do everything they need by slow, continous stretching of what they already have.

They are not concerned with the big gesture treaty in reality. The petty bureaucrats who write boring irrelevant regulations transfer power on a daily basis.

ukipwebmaster said...

Dave may say what he wants but Merkel has different ideas:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xh1EpHOKzU

Jimmy said...

Oh goody, another gimmick.

Parliament cannot bind its successors. I suspect Cameron is the first major party candidate for PM who is unaware of this.

cassandra said...

A referendum on membership of the EU?

A referendum on the illegal EU constitution?

A referendum on the illegal occupation of Afghanistan?

A referendum on mass immigration?

A referendum asking if we wish to spend fifty billion pounds over the next parliament on foreign aid and BTW who thinks its a great idea to borrow fifty odd billion quid which our children will be paying back and then give that money away to foreigners? We are in debt upto our eyeballs and our own economic situation is precarious and Dave wants to give away fifty billion of borrowed money while our own national defences are underfunded.

A referendum on whether the public wish to finance the global warming fraud?

A referendum on tax and spending and borrowing levels?

On everything that really matters to the public the three main parties offer the same and they will never offer referenda on the real issues.
The membership of the euro is a non issue, our economic situation and our gigantic deficit rules membership out for at least two parliaments.
Cameron may as well offer a referendum on what ice cream we like best!
On all the issues that really matter to us there is no difference between the parties, the electorate has in effect been disenfranchised unless we kick out the big three.

cassandra said...

This really does show that Cameron does not deserve to become PM, he is not a real tory.

cassandra said...

The illegal EU power grab constitution, that Cameron promised us a referendum on BTW, is a wholly and fully self amending and self modifying construct. Any powers the EU demands the EU gets, the UK regional regime under Cameron is bound to obey and he will obey his new masters without question.
The fact that no government can bind its successor is forgotten by Dave, if he wished to overturn the illegal constitution he could do so in two easy steps.
First he could give us what he promised, a referendum on whether we the people wish to be a part of a federal state or even part of the EU at all.
If the people decide against federal regional status then Dave could pass a repatriation of sovereign powers act through both houses within weeks and there is not a damn thing the eurocrat dictators could do about it!
Its easy and simple and democratic and yet the labour conservative liberal democrat party will never allow the electorate that choice.
Now the question is why, why are the big three parties so set against letting the people of the UK decide thier own fate?
The British people are being railroaded into a federal superstate against our will, that isnt democracy by any definition.
The UKs sovereignty is not for sale, our independence cannot be handed over to a foreign power unless we say yes, our elected leaders are lent certain powers for a limited time by the electorate and those powers do not include the power to hand over the UK to a foreign state.
The people of the UK have been sold a false bill of goods and if the political class continue to ignore democratic convention there will be trouble.

scottpompuy said...

boring boring boring. you Tories are just so boring, it's not true. Why don't we just have a refendum on EU membership and be done with it.

The King of Wrong said...

Jimmy said...
"Parliament cannot bind its successors."

What was that about Brown introducing legislation to bind a successor parliament to halving the deficit in four years? I'm sure I remember Her Majesty reading it out at the opening of the current parliament...

neil craig said...

But the Lisbon Treaty already contains a mechanism for changing itself so no new treaty wil;l be needed. I would be surprised if cameron doesn't know this.

Iain you have previously attacked UKIP for standing against allegedly euro-sceptic Tories. Will you now join Lord Tebbit in Praising UKIP's decision not to run available candidates in some such seats "a rather rare example of a party leader putting principle ahead of personal or partisan advantage" (& echo his point that some Tory voters in other constituencies where the Tory has no chance, or a eurofanatic, may be more inclined to vote UKIP)?

Dead Dog Bounce said...

Let's count the ways that this is ridiculous.

1. One parliament can't bind a successor.
2. It mimics the absurdity of Labour's deficit reduction gimics.
3. Is it a "cast-iron guarantee"? Hmm, heard of THAT before.
4. The Lisbon treaty (of cast-iron guarantee fame) includes self-revising powers.

Every time I think that my opinion of Cameron cannot go lower, I find myself wrong.